Esnault at even par; Men’s Golf completes opening day of Bobcat Invitational

EATONTON, Ga. – The Catawba College men's golf team concluded the first two rounds of its penultimate regular season test at the Bobcat Invitational hosted by Georgia College on Monday, finishing the day in 13th place.

Paul Esnault made a hard charge to the front of the pack using a three-under-par second round on the Par 70 course, capping proceedings in T-4th at an even-par 140. Ilia Antoniadis logged a pair of 73s to claim a share of 31st place at 146 (+6), while Connor Carter is one shot behind leveraging Catawba's best first-round score of 72 to engage in a 10-way tie for 38th.

Pranay Kapur chopped 10 strokes off his opening-round score in the second set with a 75, stacking up 72nd at 160 (+20). Justin Nagy also improved, clocking in T-74th at 162 strokes (+22) through 36 holes.

Catawba had the field's 10th-best second round as a team, going 10-over to close Monday's action in 13th with a score of 592 (+32).

West Florida logged a one-under opener but faded in the second 18, allowing North Georgia to slip into the lead at 565 (+5). Alexander Nilehn of Valdosta State is the individual front-runner with a two-round score of 136 (-4) as UWF's Eddie Lee and TJ Thompson are also aligned for podium spots using under-par days.

Action resumes tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. with the final round.