Fall play for the men’s golf team wrapped up with the F&M Bank Austin Peay State University Intercollegiate yesterday as Eastern took home 9th place out of 10 teams.

The result may sound bad, but this is the Panther’s first tournament finish this season ahead of last place, finishing two strokes ahead of Evansville after a team total of just +1 in round two.

The event began on rocky grounds as the first round on Monday was delayed due to weather for over five hours, forcing the tournament to be cut from 54 holes to just 36.

The delay also forced the first round to be split between both days.

Junior Romeo Perez said the adjustment to the weather was difficult.

“The first day was weird because we didn’t know if we would play or not,” Perez said. “We warmed up, then stayed inside, then went out and came back in again. It wasn’t easy to stay focused and be ready to play, especially to go out for only 10 holes, but it was the same for everyone, so no excuse.”

Perez turned a decent +5 first round into a great -2 second round that featured six birdies, compared to just one in his first 18 holes.

Perez finished one stroke back of fellow junior teammate Marcello Verdolin, who finished +3 through 36 holes.

Verdolin tore apart the back nine in round two, posting five birdies with only two holes over par.

Senior Chuck Adare built off a positive event two weeks ago en route to an even par second round and a tie for 37th overall.

Adare’s first two tournaments of fall play were not to his liking, including three finishes of 80 strokes or more, but the senior said the change was just a work in progress.

“The first two tournaments, I was just making big numbers combined with poor putting, which was extremely frustrating,” Adare said. “I’ve since worked that out and I’ve managed to be a little more consistent.”

Sophomore Sebastian Olrog finished the tournament +10, while freshman Pierce Allord went +14 through 36 holes.

Eastern also brought junior Connor Poffenbarger along for his first tournament of the season, posting a +14 total, including an eight-hole par streak in round two.

The tournament ended fall play for the team, but the men will grab the clubs again in the spring, and Adare said the goals for himself and the whole squad remain similar.

“I would just like to continue playing consistent golf and record some par or under-par rounds,” Adare said. “Teams goals for us is to start playing well as a team and moving up the leaderboard. We’ve had a few good individual results but none as a team.”

The spring event schedule has not been released yet, but the team will likely get back on the course by March of 2019.

Oscar Rzodkiewicz can be reached at 581-2812 or orrzodkiewicz@eiu.edu.