SAVANNAH, Ga. -- A pair of veteran Christopher Newport golfers fired a couple of the finest rounds of their career to lead the way for the Captains men's golf program in the Spring opener at the Savannah Invitational. As a team, the Captains finished with a 16-over 576 (288-288) through the first two rounds and are heading into the final round in tenth place.

Juniors Nick Alexander and Stephen Patterson each carded under par first rounds to get the Captains off to a hot start, including a career-low four-under 68 for Alexander. The Leesburg, Va. native trimmed one shot off his personal best 69 and etched his name into the top-ten all-time on a Par 72 track with the round. Patterson also had an outstanding opening round and finished with his second best career performance with a one-under 71. Patterson dropped in an Eagle three on the 530-yard par five 11th hole to highlight his impressive first round effort which included two birdies and 12 pars. 

The first round 288 was a season-low performance and just missed the top-ten for a single round performance by the Captains on a Par 72 as the squad trekked the 6,958-yard layout at The Club at Savannah Harbor. CNU played in the 20-team, 100-player field and got through 35 of the 36 holes on day one before play was suspended. The Captains will close out the second round and then compete in the third and final round on Tuesday in the 54-hole event. 

Alexander's first round was not an anomaly as the Captains' veteran kept the impressive play going on the second 18. He sits at one-over with one hole yet to play and is currently eighth on the individual leaderboard with a three-under score. 

After Alexander and Patterson, the rest of the Captains contributed to the top-ten start on day one. Patrick O'Rourke fired a one-over 73 with nine pars and four birdies in the opening round. He also is at three-over with one hole to play in the second round for a 33rd place four-over par finish to day one. 

Jacob Foti (+9) is in 67th and Connor Wood (+15) at 91st on the individual leaderboard. Both are currently in position to add their second round score to the Captains' tally with five-over and seven-over efforts, respectively. Foti was four-over par in the first round and had a three-under stretch over eight holes that included five pars and three birdies. After a couple of double bogeys wrenched his play near the end of the round, he righted the ship with back-to-back birdies to close out the first round. In the second, Foti added ten more pars and a birdie on the seventh hole. 

Top-ranked Huntingdon (-16) leads the field with No. 9 Washington and Lee (-13) stalking in second place. The Captains are just 32 strokes off the pace and trail third place Oglethorpe by just 15 strokes heading into the final round. Live scoring is available online here.