The Eastern men’s golf team has some ground to make up after finishing in last place with a team score of +27 par after day one of the OVC championships at the Robert Trent Jones course at the Shoals. 

Eastern had two players shoot below 80, with Marco Verdolin and Romeo Perez leading the way, both shooting 77.

Perez’s 77 came with two birdies on holes 13 and 15, but also included a double-bogey on hole seven, a 576-yard par five.

Perez sandwiched the double bogey on hole seven with bogeys on holes six and eight. 

Perez said he lost a ball on one of the holes and struggles to make the putts for par. 

“I just can’t have a bad streak like this on a course like this,” Perez said. “Because you don’t have that many opportunities for birdies on that course.”

Verdolin also had two birdies in his round, coming on holes eight and nine, but he also had two-double bogeys on holes two and 13. 

Junior Charlie Adare came in three strokes behind them at +8 par. Adare had two birdies on holes two and 12, but erased those with a double bogey on holes six and 11. He added a triple bogey on hole one, a 611-yard par five, the longest hole on the course. 

The par fives gave Eastern trouble all day long, they had the second worst average on them (5.40 strokes) and had just one birdie on them. 

“We have to attack the par fives to do better tomorrow,” senior Alex Gowin said. “The course is long, so take advantage of the holes we can.”

 Gowin came in at +9 par. He had a solid round; he made no birdies, but also made nothing above a bogey. 

Gowin said he is just trying to enjoy the moment as much as he can in what will be his last meet as a Panther.

“It’s a weird feeling being my last tournament ever,” Gowin said. “My hope is we can all play well as a team and surprise some people.”

Coming in at +15 par and rounding out the Panthers was the lone freshman on the roster, Sebastian Olrog. He made one triple bogey, one birdie and one double bogey, but what kept him from scoring lower was he made just five pars, four on the back nine. 

Perez said that if Eastern is going to move up in the standings over the next two days, that the team needs to “erase big numbers” and keep their mistakes to just bogeys. 

Jacksonville State sits in first place at –2 par, the only team to be under par after the first day. 

The Gamecocks have two players in the top five in the individual standings with Jesus Montenegro sitting in second place at –2 par. He made three birdies and one bogey. 

Joining him in the top five is Quim Vidal Mora, who is sitting at –1 par. His scorecard was a little more scattered however, as he made five birdies on the day, but offset them with four bogeys. 

Morehead State’s Nick Wilkins leads the field at –3 par. Wilkins had one bogey on the front nine and began the back nine with back-to-back birdies and finished it with back-to-back birdies.

JJ Bullock can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]