The Eastern men’s golf team struggled as a group Monday at the Zach Johnson Invitational tournament shooting +66 par, good enough for 10th of 11 teams. No Panther finished in the top 20 golfers.

Sophomore Romeo Perez led the Panther in the tournament shooting six over par in his first round. He made 11 pars but hurt his scorecard when he made consecutive double bogeys on the 12th and 13th holes. Perez shot one over par in his second-round shooting three birdies and four bogeys. Perez is in a tie for 25th place at the end of the first day.

Sophomore Charlie Adare struggled in his first round, finishing at +19 par. Adare made four double bogeys and had three triple bogeys in a row on the 12th, 13th and 14th hole. Adare bounced back in a big way in the second-round shooting one under par, making three birdies and two bogeys in the round. Adare is in 51st place in the tournament.

Senior Alex Gowin is in a tie for 62nd after he shot 23 over par in the two rounds. Gowin shot +10 par on his first 18 holes, Gowin made eight bogeys, two double bogeys and two birdies in the round. On his last 18 holes, he shot 13 over par, making 12 bogeys, one birdie and one double bogey.

Sebastian Olrog and Marcello Verdolin rounded out the standings for the Panthers, finishing in 62nd and 64th places respectively.

Olrog shot +26 par shooting 11 over in his first 18 holes making one triple bogey, one double bogey and six bogeys. He also made one birdie. On his next 18 holes he shot +15 par after shooting two triple bogeys and three double bogeys.

Verdolin shot +27 par after he struggled on his last 18 holes shooting +19 par with a quadruple bogey, two triple bogeys and eight bogeys.

South Dakota leads the tournament with a team score of 18 over par. They are followed by Indian Hills Community College which is 19 over par.

Drake, North Dakota State and Omaha make up the next three spots with scores of 25, 28 and +36 par respectively.

Northern Iowa, Western Illinois, Green Bay and Loyola–Chicago round out the teams in front of Eastern.

Below Eastern in last place is North Dakota which is +90 par as a team.

Individually, Drew Ison leads the tournament, he is at even par. Thomas Vining of South Dakota and Drew Eaton of Western follow him each at one over par.

JJ Bullock can be reached at 

581-2812 or jpbullock@eiu.edu