The Eastern men’s golf team finds itself near the bottom of the pack after day one of the SIUE Derek Dolenc Intercollegiate tournament.

At 44 strokes over par and 612 overall, the Panthers have some ground to make up after their first two rounds leave them in 13th place and 32 strokes behind the leading team Missouri State.

Eastern sophomore Alvaro Hernandez leads all Panthers scoring, posting a first round score of 72 and a second round score of 75. The two round total of 147 is good for an individual tie-24th.

The other four Eastern players are bunched fairly close together on the scoreboard.

Following Hernandez is Eastern junior Alex Gowin, who finished with a first round score of 77. Gowin had one double bogey and one triple bogey on the front nine of his first round putting him at eight over par, but rebounded on the back nine, firing three birdies and one bogey to put him back to six over on the round. On his second 18 holes Gowin struggled to make pars, but had three birdies which kept him at 79.

Eastern sophomore Charlie Adare struggles on his first nine finishing eight over par, recording two double bogeys and one triple bogey on his scorecard. However, he made eight straight pars on the back nine and finished with a birdie to put him at one under, giving him a cumulative first round score of 78. Adare’s second round was better than his first; he made nine pars and four birdies to give him a score of 73.

Sophomore Panther Kevin Altenberger struggled in his first round with two double bogeys and one triple bogey, giving him an 84 on his first round. His second round was significantly better, he made nothing over a bogey and finished with a 79.

The lone Eastern freshman in the tournament was consistent in his two rounds yesterday. Grant Miller shot two 79’s and had steady mix of pars and bogeys on his scorecard.

Missouri State’s Jack Knoesel leads the tournament in the individual category with a first round score of 66 and a 68 in his second.

Knoesel is leading his team, who is currently in first place with a cumulative score of 580, followed closely by Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (581), Murray State (584), South Dakota (586) and Bradley (587) rounding out the top five.

Eastern’s team score of 612 puts them amongst a pack of four teams that have distanced themselves from the rest of the field. North Dakota (605), Tennessee Tech (614) and Mott Community College (620).

JJ Bullock can be reached at 581-2812 or jpbullock@eiu.edu