ALBANY, GA -- There’s a new head coach and five freshmen on the roster, but there are the same expectations for the 2011-2012 Darton College golf team.
First-year head coach Bill Jones and his Cavaliers opened their season at River Point Golf Course in Albany on Monday. Three months after a fifth place finish at the NJCAA National Championship, the Cavaliers led the pack after day one of the two-day Fall Invitational.
Darton finished with a score of 305 with Gordon College trailing in second at 312.
Cavalier sophomore Shad Tuten leads the individual scoring with a +1 (73), but in Monday’s season opener it was the five new Darton additions that had Coach Jones' attention.
“A lot of them it's their first really big tournament...even though it's not even a big tournament for us. So it's nice to get these jitters out at home on a course they know very well against a smaller field and then we'll work out the kinks,” Jones said.
“It'll help us get an idea to know where we're at...as a team too because this is our first tournament so we got to figure out what we're going to do on the year,” Tuten said.
Temperamental wind and firm greens caused problems throughout Monday for the entire field- the Cavaliers weren’t immune to the struggles.
Three freshmen Cavaliers, Neil Graham, Jonathan Howard, Chase Jones, played as independents meaning their overall scores didn't count toward the team total. Graham performed the best out of the group notching a +4, fourth place tie.
DC tees off for the final round of the Invitational on Tuesday at 8:30 am.
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