Men's Golf | 4/12/2021 9:35:00 PM

MONTGOMERY, Ala.  Methodist's top-ranked men's golf team has some ground to make up after the opening round of the two-day Wynlakes Intercollegiate tournament, sitting in a tie for seventh place, 17 strokes behind the leaders from Piedmont College.

The tournament includes seven teams from within the top 10 of the Golfstat.com rankings. In addition to the Monarchs (298, 10-over par) the tournament includes No. 2 Huntingdon College, No. 3 Guilford College, No. 4 Emory (Ga.) University, No. 8 Piedmont, No. 9 McMurry (Texas) University and No. 10 Carnegie (Pa.) Mellon University.

THE ESSENTIALS
Event: 2021 Wynlakes Intercollegiate
Host: Huntingdon College
Course: Wynlakes Golf & Country Club (Par 72, 6,979 yards)
Top teams: 1 – Piedmont (281, 7-under par), 2 – Guilford (282, -6), 3 – Carnegie Mellon (287, -1)
Top individuals: 1 – James Mishoe, Guilford (34-33—67, -5), T-2 – Ben Balen, Piedmont (32-36'68, -4), T-2 – Mario Perezcassar III, Piedmont (34-34—68, -4)
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Andre Chi (35-37—72, E) played give and take across the front and back nines Monday. His opening five holes were birdie, bogey, birdie, bogey, birdie. He made the turn at 1-under but gave two strokes back on Nos. 11 and 13, only to pick them back up with birdies on 16 and 17. A bogey on No. 18 prevented the junior from an under-par round, leaving Chi tied for 12th on the individual leaderboard.
• Two Monarchs, seniors Zane Brownrigg and Henry Angier, are tied for 31st place with 3-over 75s. Brownrigg (39-36—75) birdied his opening hole but collected a double bogey on No. 3 and bogeys on Nos. 5 and 8 to hit the turn at 3 over. His back nine, however, finished at even par and included birdies on Nos. 13 and 15.
• Meanwhile, Angier (36-39—75) was rock steady across the front -- straying from par only with a birdie on No. 1 and a bogey on the 7th -- and was at 1-under par after 15 before picking up four strokes in his final three holes Monday.
• Tied for 38th place are Methodist's Cooper Hrabak and Cameron Cappuzzo. Hrabak (37-39—76, +4) had a rough start with a double on the 1st and a bogey on the 3rd, but settled in with four pars and two birdies over the next six holes to hit the turn at just 1 over. By the 14th he was holding firm at 1 over but finished the afternoon +3 over the last four holes.
• Cappuzzo (38-38—76, +4) rolled in seven par putts on the front, hitting the turn at 2 over after bogeys on the 4th and 8th. He struggled with three bogey's to open the back nine but broke the string with a birdie on the 13th. He completed the back nine at 2 over for a 4-over round.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• The Monarchs are playing the par 5s at 2-under par (4.90 average), second best in the field.
• Cappuzzo was solid on the par 5s, finishing the round at 2 under for those holes with a 4.50 average.
• Chi's five birdies ties for the most within the field of 72 golfers.

UP NEXT
The Monarchs will give chase Tuesday morning with the concluding round of the Wynlakes Intercollegiate.