The No. 2 ranked Emory men's golf team traveled to Muscle Shoals, Alabama to host The Shoals Intercollegiate Classic this weekend. The event was held at the RTJ at The Shoals' 7,165-yard, Par-72 Fighting Joe course. The tournament kicked off early Sunday morning, with teams playing the first of three rounds, with Emory fielding two separate lineups.
After 18 holes, the Emory A-Team finds itself in fourth after shooting a 301 (+13) while the Emory B-Team ends day one in ninth place at 320 (+32). UAA-foe #5 Carnegie Mellon leads the field after Sunday's round, shooting an impressive 285 (-3). #1 Methodist shot a 289 (+1) to sit in second while #12 Bethel rounds out the top-three after carding a round-one score of 299 (+11).
Leading the way for Emory was once again senior Jackson Klutznick, contributing to the A-Team's score. The Denver, Colorado native was steady on the course Sunday, shooting a cool 71 (-1). Klutznick was impressive on the front-nine, knocking in two birdies and seven pars to head into the back nine two under par. He found a little bit of trouble on the second half of his round, going out of bounds on a couple holes but did an impressive job to limit the damage. Klutznick heads into the second round tied for sixth place and just three strokes off the leader, Carnegie Mellon's Brian Xu.
Sophomore Brian Hanson's strong spring continued Sunday, carding a 75 (+3) while playing in the A-Team's lineup. The sophomore had a rocky start to his day, bogeying four of his first six holes. However, he bounced back to shoot one under par on the final 12 holes of his round. He was impressive on Par-5s, shooting two under on such holes on Sunday, which is tied for third among all competitors. He'll head into day two tied for 13th and seven strokes off the lead.
Junior Michael Burry, also playing with the A-Team, shot a 77 (+5) on Sunday. The junior was rather steady for much of the day, but a tough three-hole stretch from 12 to 14 where he shot four over par hurt his final score. He'll head to Sunday sitting tied for 24th place.
Senior Michael Rosenbloom played alongside the A-Team as well, shooting a 78 (+6) in his opening round. He didn't start his day the way he would have liked, double bogeying three straight holes from holes three to five. However, the senior was even the rest of the day, with just one birdy and one bogey the rest of his round. Rosenbloom was tied for the team-lead in pars, knocking in 13 on Sunday. Rosenbloom will enter round two tied for 32nd place and a manageable 10 shots off the leader with 36 holes still to play.
Rounding out the Eagles' A-Team scores was junior Josh Qian. Qian shot a 79 (+7) in his opening round to find himself tied for 36th heading into Monday. The junior was dominant on the course during his front nine. He picked up two birdies and just one bogey to head into the back nine one under par. However, he found trouble in the second half of the course, shooting eight over par. Qian tied for the team-high in birdies on Sunday, tapping in three.
Freshman Kevin Mu was the top performer for the Emory B-Team, shooting a 78 (+6) in his opening round. The rookie picked up a par on the first seven holes before he picked up his first bogey. He found trouble on hole 15, a 400-yard Par-4, where he triple-bogeyed to hurt his overall score. Mu will head into day two tied for 32nd place.
Senior Logan Lowery was close behind for the B-Team, shooting a 79 (+7) to finish his day tied for 36th. He also had a strong open to his round, picking up a par on six straight to start. He found trouble towards the end but can make a run at the leaderboard tomorrow.
Freshman Brady Lagendyk and junior Tony Li rounded out the scores for the Eagles, shooting an 81 (+9) and 82 (+10), respectively.
The second round will get started at 7:30 AM (CST) on Monday morning, with groups teeing off every 10 minutes from holes one and 10.