PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Jacksonville University men’s golf closed out the opening day of the 2023 spring season sitting T4 in the Sea Best Invitational.
Alexandre Vandermoten led the way for the Dolphins, and is fourth on the leaderboard through 36 holes at TPC Sawgrass – Dye’s Valley.
Vandermoten took advantage of the warming conditions on the course in his first 18, playing bogey free golf in the first round. He hit three straight pars before birdieing two of his next four holes to make the turn 2-under. He rattled off a stretch of seven-straight pars, only broken by the red number he carded on hole 15, before closing the round with three more pars.
He continued his stretch of incredibly consistent golf, before finally slipping up with consecutive bogeys on his eighth and ninth holes of the second round. He recovered quickly, with back-to-back birdies on holes 11 and 12, before wrapping up his day with pars on five of his last six. His 28 total pars were good for second-most in the field on the first day, and he led the team with five birdies.
Joseph Sullivan dropped a pair of early strokes in the first round, but closed out his front nine with his first birdie of the day, making par on all but one hole in his second nine of the first round. He rotated hot-and-cold in the second round, alternating birdies and bogeys twice in his first 13 holes of the second round. After dropping a pair of strokes, he closed strong with a birdie on the par-3 second, his final hole of the day and sits T21 heading into the final round.
Jack Neill made 11 pars and two birdies in his first round, and followed that up with 10 pars and a pair of birdies in the second. He sits inside the top-50, while a freshman Daniel Montalvo bounced back from a tough first round to shave seven strokes off his second-round score and moved up six spots on the leaderboard.
Individuals James Dulin spirit Joseph Hacker are both in the top-50 as well, with Dulin making three first round birdies and adding one more, as well as 12 pars in the second round. Hacker had a birdie each and 11 pars in his two rounds.
Philip Raza shot a first round 71 before having to withdraw due to injury in the second round.
JU was second-best in the field on Par-3s, shooting even for the day. Both Vandermoten and Sullivan finished one-under on such holes. Vendermoten was also 1-under on Par-4s and even on Par-5s to lead the Dolphins across the board.