COLUMBUS, Ga. – The Valdosta State men's golf team opened the 2021-22 season Monday as it sits tied for eighth following two rounds of the Cougar Invitational on the par 70, 6,512-yard Green Island Country Club course.   The host Columbus State Cougars lead the 13-team field with a 558 score, while VSU has a 588 score through 36-holes.
 
The Cougars followed up a 280 with a 278 to have the clubhouse lead heading into Tuesday's 9 a.m. shotgun start. Lee sits second with a 561 score (280-281), while Saint Leo dropped ten strokes from the first round (292) to the second with a 282 for a 547 score and is third.  Delta State moved from sixth to fourth with a 282 score in the second round and a 575 score for two rounds to sit fourth, one stroke ahead of West Florida (576) to round out the top five.  
 
Carson-Newman moved from seventh to sixth with a 282 score in the second round and a 577 score for the two rounds.  Georgia Southwestern sits seventh at 581, followed by both VSU and Florida Southern at 588.  Mississippi College rounds out the top ten with a 594 score, followed by Georgia College (598), Christian Brothers (600) and Wingate (602).  
 
Individually, CSU's Jordan Doull leads the field with a 6-under 134 score on rounds of 68 and 66.  Lee's Beck Burnette is second with a 5-under 135 score (67, 68), while West Florida's Elias Haavisto is third with a 3-under 137 (71, 66).  
 
For the Blazers, senior Gage Smith and junior Chase Weathers are tied for 20^th to lead the team each carding a 145 on rounds of 74 and 71.  Sophomore Ryan Pollman is tied for 45^th with a 149 score (73, 76), while graduate student Wesley Hanson is tied for 51^st with a 150 score on a pair of 75s.  Junior Davis Smith is tied for 54 with a 151 score on rounds of 74 and 77.  Redshirt freshman Taylor Sweat is tied for 70^th individually with rounds of 77 and 79 for a 156 score.
 
For the two rounds, VSU is tied for second in pars with 117, but was 13^th with just 12 birdies for 36 holes and six per round.  VSU, CSU and UWF each had one eagle for the day.  Both Davis and Gage Smith are tied for eighth each with 25 pars for the two rounds to lead the team.  Weathers fired an even par on the par 3s for a tie for fifth among the field, while he was +4 on par 4s and Davis Smith, Pollman and Hanson each were even par on par 5s to lead the team.  Pollman tallied the lone eagle of the day for VSU on the seventh hole in the first round.
 
Check back with vstateblazers.com for complete results of Tuesday's final round.  Click on the right for a link to Monday's results and to the live stats for Tuesday.