April 8, 2024
Cobras Sit in 2nd after 36 holes in FL
PENSACOLA, FL -- The Coker men's golf team shot rounds of 5-under and 3-under on Monday and stands 2nd of 15 teams in Argonaut Invitational at Pensacola Country Club.
The Cobras, who were led by junior Derek McGlaughlin at 71-68--139 (-5), are ranked 23rd nationally among NCAA DII schools and trail 4th ranked Georgia Southwestern by five shots. No. 5 Oklahoma Christian and No. 17 West Florida (the host) are just one back of the Cobras and No. 1 North Georgia is two back of Coker in fifth place.
The powerhouse field includes 11 teams in the top 23 in the country. No. 2 Lincoln Memorial, No. 7 Lee and No. 21 Shorter are 10th, 11th and 14th in the standings.
"Our guys really played well today," Coker head coach John Hackney said. "The wind blew 10 to 25 mph today off the gulf and it got a little dark from the eclipse early in the afternoon, so it was an interesting day. We just did a good job playing the par 5s, limited our big holes and rolled in 38 birdies and one eagle over the 36 holes. Six of our 10 rounds were at par or better, which was great."
McGlaughlin had 10 birdies, hit 22-of-28 fairways, 29-of-36 greens and averaged 31 putts and is tied for third place, just three shots behind West Florida's Per Ekelund (66-70--136)
"Derek really had an excellent day," Hackney said. "I thought his course management was superb and he really had great command of his speed on the greens."
Coker senior Jonathan Hallinger is tied for 8th after rounds of 72 and 69. He carded six birdies and holed a shot from 152 yards for eagle on the par-4 2nd hole in the first round. He averaged 28 putts, thanks in large part to getting up and down 7-of-10 times when missing greens.
Senior Caleb Tidd posted a 4-under 68 in the opening round, good for third place, and managed a 75 in the second round despite back-to-back double bogeys. Super Senior Killian Ryan fired 74-73--147 and senior Aaron Teece totaled 72-80--152 to round out the Coker scoring.
The Cobras ranked second in par-3 scoring at +5, fourth in par-4 scoring at +11 and sixth in par-5 scoring at -14.
Tuesday's final pairing will have Georgia Southwestern (283-280--563), Coker (283-285--568) and Oklahoma Christian (278-291--569) teeing off the No. 1 tee beginning at 10 a.m.
"We are playing extremely well, so it will be fun to be in the final pairing," Hackney said. "We came a long way to play here, so it would be nice to make the long drive home with the trophy."