Golf finishes 11th at Linger Longer

The Mercer men’s golf team is coming off of their best performance of the season, finishing fourth at the Seminole Intercollegiate at Southwood Golf Course in Tallahassee, Fla. On Mar. 24-25, they co-hosted the Linger Longer Invitational at Great Waters Golf Course in Eatonton, with Kennesaw State University. The field consisted of Alabama, Georgia, Mercer, KSU, Chattanooga, Oklahoma, Charlotte, Notre Dame, Jacksonville, Liberty, South Alabama and Charleston Southern for a total of 12 teams, six of which are ranked in the top 50 collegiately.
Mercer’s lineup consisted of sophomore James Beale, redshirt sophomore Hans Reimers, senior Josh Cone, freshman Trey Rule and junior Thomas Holmes. Redshirt junior John Gregory Joseph, redshirt freshman Mike Hirthler and junior Alex Street all qualified to participate as individuals.
Through the first day of play, the Bears were in 11th place overall out of 12 teams. Their shot total for the first two rounds was 599, two strokes ahead of Jacksonville and one stroke behind Charleston Southern.
The team from Macon was spear-headed by Beale, who finished in a three-way tie for first place individually, shooting a 71 in the first round, followed by his season-best 68 in the second round, for a stroke total of 139. Beale notched eight birdies and had just three bogies par in his final 18 holes.
The next best performance for Mercer came from redshirt sophomore Hans Reimers, who finished the day tied for 45th place. He shot a 76 in the first round on Saturday, then improved on his total by one shot in the second round, ending the day with a 151 shot total.
Lone senior Josh Cone also aided his team’s efforts with another solid performance. Cone shot a 75 in the first round, followed by a 77 in the second round, ending the day tied for 50th place with a 152 total.
The rest of Mercer’s team did not fare so well in finding the fairway.
Freshman Trey Rule ended the day after shooting two-rounds of 79, for a 158 shot total. This put Rule in a tie for 64th place. Holmes ended the day in a tie for 68th place after firing a 78 in the first round, followed by an 82 in the second, giving him a 160 shot total for the day.
Individual participants John Gregory Joseph and Mike Hirthler were faring better than some of their teammates through the first day of play in Eatonton. Joseph ended Saturday in a tie for 53rd place, shooting a 78 in the first round and a 75 in the second. He shot a 74 on the final round on Sunday. Hirthler also ended the first day in a tie for 53rd place, with his two rounds having of 76 and 77 respectively.
Mercer’s final tournament before the Atlantic Sun Championships is from March 31-April 1, at the Irish Creek Invitational at Irish Creek Golf Course in Kannapolis, N.C., which is hosted by UNC Charlotte.