WHISPERING PINES, N.C. -- Playing at the Country Club of Whispering Pines, the Christopher Newport men's golf team had a strong showing on the first day of the Hampden-Sydney Invitational and sits in second place with a 12-over par 300. The Captains trail Carnegie Mellon by four strokes for the tournament lead after being led by sophomore
Nick Alexander (E) in the opening round.
Alexander continued his impressive second season with his third round at par or better since the start of the 2024-25 campaign. On Sunday, Alexander picked up an eagle three on the 591-yard par five fifth hole and was quickly one-under through his first five holes. He stumbled with three straight bogeys as he made the turn to the back nine, but quickly righted the ship with a stellar run through the back with three birdies and five pars.
The CNU sophomore went back-to-back with birdies on the 152-yard par three 12th and 399-yard par four 13th holes. He also added a third birdie on the 417-yard par four 18th to get back under par before closing his round with a par and a bogey to finish at 72. Alexander is in fourth place on the individual leaderboard and trails Justin Luan (-3) from Carnegie Mellon by three strokes.
The rest of the Captains finished all within two strokes of eachother.
J.P. Carr finished with a three-over 75 and
Owen Cook added a four-over 76. Rounding out the first round performances were five-over 77's from
Brian O'Dea and
Michael Thomas.
Carr had two birdies and 11 pars in his round with birdies on a tough 368-yard par four 9th hole and the 507-yard par five 15th. He was one of three Captains to birdie 15 including Cook and Thomas. Cook put together an outstanding back nine with six pars and back-to-back birdies on 15 and 16 after starting his day with a birdie on the 502-yard par five 7th hole.
O'Dea and Thomas each dropped in a pair of birdies and had 11 and 10 pars, respectively. The duo helped CNU edge Randolph-Macon by five strokes on the team leaderboard through the first 18 holes.
The tournament will conclude on Monday with the second round. Live stats are available with the link found at CNUsports.com.
