Men's Golf | 4/2/2021 7:30:00 PM

HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla.  Methodist men's golf sits atop Friday's leaderboard after the opening round of the three-day Golfweek Division III Spring Invitational, knotted with Carnegie Mellon (Pa.) University (CMU) as the two teams have a five-stroke buffer over third-place Emory University.

The Monarchs (299, 11-over par) are buoyed by three individuals -- Andre Chi, Henry Angier and Cooper Hrabak -- in the top five of the individual leaderboard.

JUST THE FACTS
Event: Golfweek Division III Men's Spring Invitational
Location: Mission Inn Resort & Club, Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida
Course: El Campeón (6,755 yards, Par 72)
Top teams: T-1 – Methodist (299, +11), T-1 – Carnegie Mellon (299, +11), 3 – Emory (304, +16)
Top individuals: 1 – Jason Li, CMU (35-34—69, -3), T-2 – Andre Chi, Methodist (37-36—73, +1), T-2 – Davis Reynolds, Greensboro College (37-36—73, +1), T-2 – Seth Jolly, Berry (Ga.) College (35-38—73, +1)

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Monarchs -- No. 2 in the Golf Coaches Association of America poll, and No. 3 in the Golfstat.com rankings -- opened the day on the first tee.
• Birdies were hard to come by for the Monarch men on the front nine, but all six players warmed up after the turn.
• Chi strayed from par on the front only with a double-bogey on the par-4 4th, but he erased that with an eagle on the par-5 10th. A birdie on the 14th evened out a bogey on the 12th, and his only other blemish was a bogey on No. 17.
• Angier (38-36—74, +2) rebounded from a triple on the 3rd and a bogey on the 7th by rolling in birdie putts on Nos. 9 and 10. Steady play -- even par over the final eight holes -- led the senior into a fifth-place tie after Round 1.
• Among the six golfers tied for fifth place is teammate Cooper Hrabak (38-36—74, +2). The freshman's front nine included three bogeys, and another after the turn at No. 10 could have begun a downward spiral. But Hrabak birdied the 13th, 17 and 18th, with only a bogey on the 14th, to turn a flip the switch and finish in the bunch at 2 over.
• Senior Zane Brownrigg (42-36—78, +6) was seven over after six holes on Friday, but a back nine that included birdies on Nos. 10, 13 and 18 seemed to right the ship, and bring with it an end-of-the-day 25th place on the individual leaderboard.
• Similar to Brownrigg, sophomore Cameron Cappuzzo (40-39—79, +7) struggled across the front nine, hitting 5 over after seven holes. A string of six consecutive pars was followed by birdies on No. 14 and 15, though. Cappuzzo played the final three holes of the round at 4 over, however, but he remained in the top 30, tied for 29th place.

INVITE NOTES

• Along with the Monarchs, teams ranked in Golfstat's top 25 participating in the Invitational are No. 1 Guilford College (6th place, 310, +22), No. 2 Huntingdon (Ala.) College (4th, 305, +17), No. 4 Emory, No. 10 Greensboro (7th, 315, +27), No. 11 Christopher Newport University (8th, 316, +28), No. 13 CMU, No. 17 Hampden-Sydney College (T-9th, 318, +30), and No. 19 Oglethorpe (Ga.) University (5th, 309, +21).
• Methodist leads the field on the par 3s (+1 cumulative, 3.05 average) and par 5s (-4, 4.80).

UP NEXT
The Invitational will continue Saturday with Round 2, and will conclude with Sunday's third round.