Men's Golf claims Richard Rendleman team title; Women finish fourth

Salisbury, N.C. —- Catawba men's golf earned their first win of the season at the Richard Rendleman Invitational on Tuesday, combining for a +23, 875 (Par 71) score after three rounds and 54 holes across Monday and Tuesday at the Country Club of Salisbury. The victorious team of Chad Coburn, Connor Carter, Hayden Mincey, Ryan Masterton, and Paul Esnault's final mark of 875 was nine higher than second place Fayetteville State, and 18 higher than third place Erskine, while a second Catawba team consisting of Justin Nagy, Luke Nelson, Benny Hagerty, and Tanner Frye would finish in sixth with a +99/951 mark.

HOW IT HAPPENED 

- Catawba would find themselves in third following the first round on Monday, with a score of 299. But they'd rebound strong during the second round right after; their score of 286  was the second best any team would shoot in a round during the tournament, and elevated them into second place behind Fayetteville State

- Catawba would proceed to notch the best third round of any team with a score of 290, nine points higher than that of second place Erskine, as they secured the win

- Coburn led the charge for Catawba, finishing play in third place at one-over par, 214. After a tough 75 in the opening round, Coburn's 67 in round two was tied for the best overall round by any player with Virginia Wise's Tzu-Wei Huang, aided by seven birdies. A 72 in the final round was enough to keep Coburn near the top of standings. Overall, Coburn finished with 16 birdies and an eagle, coming on Hole 13 in Round 2

- Carter jumped up five spots to fifth in the final round thanks to a huge two-under, 69, shooting five birdies and scoring even on 10 of the other 18 holes and bringing his total to +5/218. It was a big jump from a six-over second round, and combined with a one-over, 72 in the first was enough to carry Carter into the top five. He'd finish play with 12 birdies overall

- Mincey was right behind Carter, finishing play in sixth with a +6, 219 effort. An even first round was followed by a pair of +3/74 rounds, as Mincey remained steady throughout and shook off a couple of bogeys. He'd finish with 13 birdies, almost enough combined with his other play to join Coburn and Carter in the top five

- Masterton ended play tied-for-seventh at +9/222, rebounding from a +7/78 in the opening round with an excellent -1/70 stretch in the second one, before leveling off with a +3/74 in the final round. Masterton logged five of his 10 bogeys in round two, and had only three of the 18 holes where he shot a bogey or double bogey along with them

- Esnault would finish 10th, ensuring that all five of Catawba's winning squad placed inside the top-10. Esnault's final mark of +10/223 began with a pair of +3/74 rounds on Monday, including a back-nine effort in round one where he was even or had a birdie in eight of nine holes. While Esnault slipped down a pair of spots on Tuesday with a +4/75, he was still able to maintain his grip on one of the top spots

- Nagy would lead Catawba's second team, wrapping up play tied-for-18th at +17/230. Nagy put together some very good stretches of play, including a second round where he birdied twice and was even on 13/18 holes, only to be torpedoed by a quadruple body and later a double bogey; he also only had one bogey down the back-nine stretch of the final round. Nagy would finish with seven birdies total

- Nelson finished T-22nd, putting together a +22/235 score after being unable to recover from a tough +11/82 opening round. He'd finish the next two +4/75 and +7/78, knocking in eight birdies in the process

- Hagerty finished in 28th with a score of +34/247, with four birdies

- Frye was right behind Hagerty, ending play in 29th with a score of +42/255. He'd knock in three birdies

NOTES

- Coburn and Carter were named to the All-Tournament team for their efforts, along with being the first pair of Catawba players this season to both finish in the top five

- Esnault has now finished in the Top-10 in both of his appearances to start the season

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Catawba women's golf wrapped up the Patsy Rendleman Invitational in fourth place after a solid two-day showing at the Country Club of Salisbury, finishing with a +82/934 (par 71) final mark that was just two shy of a top-three finish after 54 holes.

HOW IT HAPPENED

- Catawba came out of the gate strong on Monday, with a score of 302 in round one that would stand as the sixth-highest overall once play was finalized and place Catawba firmly in second place. Following a score of 312 in the second round, Catawba would end day one in third, behind eventual winner Anderson and runner-up Lenoir-Rhyne. However, a 317 in the third round on Tuesday caused Catawba to slip just below eventual third-place finisher South Carolina Beaufort, who edged Catawba 932-934 for third.

- Mary-Paige King led the Catawba effort, ending play T-12th at +16/229. Following an excellent opening round where she finished even overall after 16/18 even holes, she would be unable to build on the opening effort with a +6/77 second round and +7/78 third as she dropped out of the top-10 on Tuesday. King would finish with two birdies as well, both coming on the opening two holes of round two

- Chloe Crane finished play in 17th, climbing up a spot on Tuesday and finishing +19/232, thanks to a final back-nine stretch that included both of her birdies and five straight even rounds for a +7/78 effort in the final round. Rounds one and two were a tale of two halves for Crane, as she started both by shooting even on 8/9 holes, only to run into trouble with bogeys in each of the back-nines to finish Monday with a pair of +6/77 rounds

- Emily Wellspeak ended play on Tuesday in 22nd at +23/236, slipping down by a couple spots after a tough +12/83 final round. Similar to Crane, Wellspeak's first two rounds on Monday were night and day in each round. She ended the front-nine of rounds one and two at +6 and +4, respectively, before scoring +1 over the second half of round one to finish +7/78 and even down the stretch of round two to finish +4/75. Wellspeak had a birdie in each round, all of them coming on the back-nine

- Vera Hutchinson-Kay was right behind Wellspeak, climbing a pair of spots to finish T-23rd at +23/237. She started play well with a +5/76 in the opening round, buoyed by an eagle on hole 15 and a birdie on hole 17 for a +1 back-nine. While she'd stumble in round two, finishing +12/83, Hutchinson-Kay would bounce back on Tuesday with a +7/78 to again rise up in the standings. He had two birdies during play to go along with her eagle

- Abbie Daquila ended play T-47th at +47, 260, closing out Catawba's team of five. She endured a rough +20/91 opening round, before recovering to score +13/84 in round two and +14/85 in round three. Daquila had three birdies during play

- Maddy Vogan played individually, finishing T-41st with a score of +17/254. After opening play on Monday at +14/85, she put together a +10/81 second round before sliding just a bit in round three after a +17/88 effort.

Up Next

- The two Catawba teams split up in two weeks, as the men take on the Barton Invitational, while the women head to the St. Simons Intercollegiate, Oct. 16-17