A trip to Indio, Calif. ended with the Eagles finishing in the middle of the pack of the Desert Intercollegiate on March 26 and 27. Strong third-round performances boosted the team up to 13th place in the 20-team pool.

A STORMY START

On March 26, the men started play by posting a score of 326 in the first round, which put them in a tie for 11th. Sophomore Kaden Page led Biola in the first round, rocketing to 7th place on the individual leaderboard with a score of 76. Junior Parker Buck followed Page’s lead later in the day, scoring a 76 in the second round and moving up 43 spots to place 38th at the end of the first day of competition.

The rest of the men did not perform as well in the windy conditions, as the team plummeted from 11th to 17th after tallying a 335 in the last round on March 26. It proved their worst of the three rounds. The playing conditions certainly became a factor, as each member of the team saw their scores drop significantly from their last competition a few weeks ago.

STRONG IN THIRD ROUND

Despite poor scores across the board for almost every team in the third round on March 27, the Eagles managed to improve upon their previous round with a score of 330. Buck led the charge once again, scraping out a 79, while junior Kyle McAbee followed closely behind with just two more strokes. Despite having a rough tournament overall, Biola’s top golfer, junior Austin Bishop, got his best score of the day in the final round with an 82 to help the Eagles finish strong and hop a few places up to 13th by the end of the competition on Tuesday.

The Eagles will travel to Turlock, CA, to participate in the Hanny Stanislaus Invitational on April 2 and 3.