The Eastside Eagles won their third tournament of the year. Members of the winning team were (l-r) Davis Hamilton, Ted Griffin, Calahan Keever, Aaron Westberry and Benton Leinster, Golf Club Photo)

The Eastside Eagles had to knock a little rust off their game in the first round of the Hurricane Inviataional. The team had recently returned from their spring break to play in the event at Southern Oaks.

Many of the teams playing in the field of 22  were using the evnet as a tune-ujp for regional play which begins next week for most teams.

The Eagles posted team scores of 309 and 305 to take the victory away from the host school. Wren High School finsihjed with a 626 total, 12 shots behind the Eagles.

Individually Ian Faulconer opened the two day tournament with a 2-under par 70. The JL Mann senior followed it up with a 3-under par 69 to earn medalist honors.

Ian Faulconor from Mann shot rounds of 70-69 for a 5-under par 139 and the victory

“I hadn’t had a win in a long time, so this was great especially considering how many good players were in the tournament” said Faulconer. “Yesterday I hit my irons really close and today I was able to roll in some long putts,” he said.

The future Winthrop golfer has had a handful of top-five finishes, but had not claimed a win.

“I had one double today and I thought that might let someone catch me. I wanted to get one more birdie, just in case, and I was able to sink a 15 foot putt on my final hole,” said the winner.

Defending South Carolina AAAA champion Brandon Masters was the runner-up. The Wren High School  golfer finished at 3-under par with a 141 total.

Joining Faulconor and Masters on the All-Tournament team were Walker Redmond from Blue Ridge, Raferty Hall of Aiken, Callahan Keever from Eastside and Jonathan Brennan from Wade Hampton.

The victory by Eastside put book ends on their regular season. The Eagles won their first two tournaments of the season.

“We have had a couple of second place and third place finishes,” said Eastside coach Jeff Ware. “We played well considering most of our team had not played any golf for a couple of weeks,” he said.

The Eagles were led by Callaham Keever, the 2019 Greenville County Champion finished with a 148 total in a tie for 5th place. Jiy McCollum bounced back from a rough first round to post a 2-under par 70 in the final round to help the team to the title.

The All-Tournament team at the Hurricane Invitational included (l -r) Jonathan Brennan, Wade Hampton, Callahan Keever, Eastside, Ian Faulconor, Mann, Walker Redmond, Blue Ridge, Brandon Masters, Wren.

“When I talked to the team I told them that from now on, for the rest of the year, we need to be shooting under 300 if we want to have a chance to be a state champion. All it takes is for each player to cut down one or two strokes, said the Eagles coach.

Region play around the state starts in some places next Monday. Teams will advance from the regionals to the Upper State qualifying tournament. The top teams will play at their classification championships starting on May 13 around the state..

Hurricane Invitational Team Scores

R2 Team Sheet