Bearcat Classic opens back-to-back weeks of action
March 7, 2021

Bearcat Classic opens back-to-back weeks of action

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After a week away from competition, No. 25 Carson-Newman kicks off back-to-back weeks of tournament play with a trip to Greenwood, S.C. for the Lander Bearcat Classic at the Greenwood Country Club on Monday and Tuesday.

 

VIDEO: Randy Wylie Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After a week away from competition, No. 25 Carson-Newman kicks off back-to-back weeks of tournament play with a trip to Greenwood, S.C. for the Lander Bearcat Classic at the Greenwood Country Club on Monday and Tuesday.

The Eagles head into the event days after gaining their first national ranking of the season, breaking into the top-25 of Golfstat's poll for the first time since Feb. 25, 2020. They opened the season with a fifth-place showing at the Hurricane Invitational, finishing at 14-over.

"We're playing a very similar field to last week. It'll be probably two-thirds of the field will be the same teams," Carson-Newman coach Randy Wylie said. "We were a little disappointed in our finish last week.  We definitely should have been able to finish better than fifth out of 15. So we've got some unfinished business to tend to. We want to have a much better showing this week and that was our first tournament in a year so hopefully we've kinda got the rust off and we can go and play our best."

This trip marks the first time C-N has appeared in Lander's event since 2013. In its three-straight prior showings, the best finish the team saw was a runner-up effort in 2011. The last time the event was played was back in March 2019 when Lincoln Memorial won with a 3-under outing, spearheaded by an 8-under performance from Dan Bradbury to earn top-medalist honors.

Carson-Newman's starting lineup for the week includes four of the same five that it took to the season-opener, led by Alex Hodge (Knoxville, Tenn.) at the top spot for a second-straight event. The senior was the highest Eagle on the leaderboard at the Hurricane Invitational, finishing in a tie for eighth with an even 216. He leads the team with a 72.6 scoring average.

Will Collins (Knoxville, Tenn.) moves up to the second-seed after tying for 12th at the Hurricane Invitational, just two shots behind Hodge. Collins had the best final round of the team, heading into the clubhouse with a 1-under 71.

At the three and four spots will be Jackson Tyler (Wilmington, N.C.) and Jake Mynatt (Knoxville, Tenn.). Tyler's first event back since the spring of 2019 resulted in a share of 31st with a 7-over 223 at the season-opener. Mynatt was the fourth Eagle on the leaderboard at that event with a 229. Since that first event, he won the Wind River Invitational with the C-N B Team on March 1 where he shot 1-under.

Jonathan Nielsen (Hørsholm, Denmark) is set to be slotted at the No. 5 spot in his Carson-Newman debut. The freshman is the second C-N golfer to make his first appearance on the lineup in as many tournaments.

The Eagles will be a part of a 21-team field in Greenwood this week that includes six nationally-ranked teams. Along with C-N and hosting No. 19/T-20, No. 1/2 Lincoln Memorial, No. 16/17 North Georgia, No. 21/T-20 Young Harris and No. 23/24 Anderson will be at the event.

"You know if you take care of your business, you're going to be ranked really high," Wylie said. "So, if we take care of business, then we don't have to worry about rankings ever. And we need to, like I said, a couple teams beat us last week that we think we can handle and we need to go put it to them this week and get a win."

The two-day event starts Monday morning. A full recap with results will make their way to cneagles.com at the end of both days of competition.

 
 
 
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