Wheeling, W. Va. - The Mountain East Conference (MEC) schedule continued for the Wheeling University Men's Golf team as they headed to the University of Charleston for the Golden eagle Invitational on Monday. The Cardinals would play 36 holes on the day and after two rounds the Cardinals sit 13th in the field, six among MEC opponents, shooting a two-round score of 593. As a team, the Cardinals dropped 21 strokes off their team score between rounds one and two, as the Cardinals sit just seven strokes outside of the event's top 10.
The biggest showing of the day came from graduate student Sean Dobson, who shot 141 (+1) between the two rounds of play. In the first round, Dobson got off to a slow start before hitting his stride. He would get his first birdie on hole six and went on to birdie three of the next four holes. He would add two more birdies on the back nine, but shot +3 as he rounded the bend back to the final three holes. He would add one more Eagle on hole two, but sat at +4 as he headed into the second round. Once he got into that second round, he hit his turning point when he hit an Eagle on hole four. That was the pish he need as he added two birdies and three pars on the next five holes and was sitting at –4 as he headed into the back nine. He would add seven pars and one birdie on that back nine, but shot an even 34. Two more pars on holes one and two ended his round as he shot a career-best 67. It was two strokes shy of the Cardinal's single-round record, and he sits just one stroke out of the top 10.
The biggest drop from round one to round two would come from graduate student Troy Loughry, who took 11 strokes off his round one score of 82, to shoot 71 in round two. He began the second round on hole four and would get his first birdie on hole five. He added one more in the front nine, but it was a strong back nine that cemented his performance. He would birdie hole 10 before hitting seven straight pars to shoot even on the back nine to cement the strong showing. The top performer in the first round for the Cardinals was Lodin Femoen, who competed as an individual at the event. Femoen would star the round on hole 17 and after adding a stroke he would go on to post eight straight pars from hole 18 to hole seven. He would add his first birdie on hole eight and rounded out the front nine shooting –1. It was enough to help him reach a 71 in the first round before rounding out his day with a 75 on the back nine.
Rounding out the team portion of the event for the Cardinals were Elias Ekenes-Fosback, Eirik Lindholm, and Zak Collins. After shooting a 77 in round one, Ekenes-Fosback dropped four strokes off his score, shooting a 73 in round two. He shot two birdies in the second round, one on each of the nine's to bring his two-round score to 150. Lindholm rounded out the top four scorers for the Cardinals with a consistent game, shooting 76 in the first round followed by a 75 in round two. He would take one stroke off his score in round two, shooting an even par on the back nine to help take the stroke off his score. Collins played the final part of the team event, putting together a 155 across the two rounds. His best showing would be the front nine of round two, where he shot –1 hitting seven pars and a birdie as he took one stroke off his round one score.
The final golfer for the Cardinals was Brandon Lee, who competed as the second individual at the event. Lee had a strong showing in round one, shooting two birdies and putting together a 74 to sit just four over par. However, he would add one more birdie on the front nine in round two, but shot an 87 to conclude day one of the event.
The Wheeling University Men's Golf team returns to action for day two of the Golden Eagle Invitational on Tuesday, September 9th, with tee times beginning at 9:30 AM.
