The Eastern Panther golf team teed it up for the first time this season, on Monday in Springfield, Mo.

Their opening match was hosted by Missouri State at Twin Oaks Country Club, and the weather delayed the start of the two-day event by almost two hours because of a frost delay.

Play began at 10:10 a.m. and conditions were sunny for the beginning of play as temperatures reached just above 60 degrees during the afternoon.

Monday was a full day of play with the 36 holes being played by the 11 contesting schools.

A variety of Midwest teams competed in the Twin Oaks Intercollegiate including Western Illinois, Green Bay, Northern Iowa and Loyola.

Tuesday’s final day of play wraps up with 18 holes starting at 8 a.m.

The Panthers had a shaky 18 holes in the first round to start their season yesterday. Twin Oak’s front nine par is 35 and the closest Panther to that score was freshman Charlie Adare, with a score of +1. (36) His final score for the first round was +6 and had accumulated 10 pars for his 2016 debut.

Freshman Alvaro Hernandez shot a 77 during his first round leaving him at +6 after 18 holes of play. The Spain native bogeyed twice on his last three holes.

A total of five golfers made up the squad for Eastern as they sat in last place with a combined team score of 318, leaving them at 34 strokes over par. Andrew Blackburn from Western Illinois was the only player in the tournament to eagle a hole during the first round.

Round two began in the mid-afternoon on Monday as the skies remained clear and the wind kept at a slight gust. Each group who teed off together consisted of three men from different schools and would play their second round of 18 holes for the day.

Going into round two, Valparaiso lead every school. Despite the lead Central Arkansas took control halfway through the first nine holes.

For the Panthers, Junior Ryan Hughes fell behind after his first nine holes during round 2 with four bogeys and two triple bogeys. His brother and teammate Daniel Hughes scored a +5 after the first nine holes during his second round of play.

The action will pick up again Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. The final round will consist of 18 holes and will determine the winner of this year’s Twin Oaks Intercollegiate.

Missouri State leads the competition with a team score of +14 heading into Tuesday. The Panthers were able to reduce their final score in the second round to +32 as they still remain in 11^th place.

Alvaro Hernandez finished the day with two identical scores of 77 for Eastern.

Conditions for Tuesday will be 45 degrees with winds at 15 mph at tee- time.

Jack Arkus can be reached at jtarkus@eiu.edu