The Eastern men’s golf team will open up its spring season Wednesday at the Butler Florida Invitational in Jacksonville, Florida.

The first of five tournaments for Eastern this spring is a two-day tournament that will have each team play 36-holes each day. The Windsor Parke Golf Club men’s course will be played as a Par 72 at 6,765 yards.

Teams that will be competing in the tournament are Eastern, Evansville, Detroit, High Point, Albany State, Chicago State, Southern Indiana and the host, Butler.

Sophomore Alvaro Hernandez was the leader for the Panther’s in the fall season with three top 20 finishes and an average of 73.58 per round. Sophomore Charlie Adare and freshman Romeo Perez posted the next best scorers for Eastern in the fall. Adare averaged a 78 while Perez averaged a 78.33.

Evansville competed in the Benbow Invitational on March 6-7 along with Butler, Southern Indiana, Chicago State and Albany State and was in 4th place after the first day. The duo of Tyler Gray and Wil Pahud tied for 11th place with rounds of 77 in the first round and seven off the lead. Noah Reese was third for the Purple Aces with a round of 79 putting him at 16th place.

Butler took the lead after day one behind Michael Denner, Joey Arcuri and Patrick Allgeier who finished second, third and fourth. Denner was two strokes behind the lead with a round of 72. Arcuri had a round of 74 while Allgeier was one stroke behind at 75.

Albany State had the next three spots with Dominic DiGiacomo and Tyler Hanson tied for fourth with Allgeier with a round of 75. Tyler George finished tied for seventh with four others with his round of 76. Southern Indiana has a few players scattered around the board and they are led by Grant Saylor who is tied for seventh with a round of 76.

Chicago State was at the bottom of the team standings after day one of the Benbow Invitational.

High Point will be opening its season on Wednesday and will have six golfers compete in the tournament. Detroit will be playing in its first tournament of the spring after having mixed results in the fall

Mark Shanahan can be reached at 581-2812 or mmshanahan@eiu.edu