Sept. 29, 2010

ATLANTA, GA - The Fayetteville State golf team finished its first tournament in second place. There's a chance it could've been even better than that.

Not that the Broncos' newest player will necessarily mind.

Fayetteville native John Cole, a freshman from nearby Cape Fear High School, completed his first round with a 71, good enough for a tie for first place at last weekend's HBCU Hall of Fame Golf Invitational in Atlanta, GA. The second round, though, was washed out by inclement weather when the final group was on the 17th hole at Browns Mill Golf Course, forcing tournament officials to throw out any of the completed scores from the second round.

I feel like we might've done a little better if we had completed the second round, but for the first tournament of the year, we're pretty happy." FSU coach Raymond McDougal

While that enabled Cole to pick up his first collegiate victory in his first start after scoring the win with a par in a playoff, who knows if FSU might've captured a team tournament victory? As it stands, however, FSU shot an aggregate round of 307, a mere three shots back of winner Winston-Salem State, which fired a team score of 304 in the Division II event.

"We played well," said FSU golf coach Raymond McDougal, whose golf teams have won a staggering 15 CIAA Championships over the years. "I'm very pleased with the way we played, even though we left a few shots out there. But I imagine everybody did that. I feel like we might've done a little better if we had completed the second round, but for the first tournament of the year, we're pretty happy."

Fayetteville State also got strong scores from returning players William McClure (Jr., Fayetteville, NC), who shot 76 and Bryan Conner (Jr., Hickory, NC), who carded a 79. Mike Wallace (Jr., Fayetteville, NC) added an 81 while Lincoln Jackson (Jr., Southern Pines, NC) had an 87.