BURLINGTON, N.C. – Behind another top-10 finish from sophomore Nick Rakes and two more top-30 placements from Scott Jordan and Ryan Hammer, Longwood cemented its first top-three finish of the fall at the Elon Phoenix Invitational.
 
Tying for third out of 13 teams at the par-71, 6,867-yard Alamance Country Club, the Lancers surpassed their previous team-best of the fall – a fourth-place showing at the Joe Feaganes Invitational on Sept. 14 – and turned in their lowest team score with a 9-under 289-276-278—843.
 
That performance featured three top-30 finishes in the 84-player field and another team-leading effort from Rakes, who has now come in at the top of the Longwood leaderboard in three of five tournaments this fall. The Lancers had a tournament-best five eagles in the three rounds, including two from Christian Michael and one apiece from Rakes, Hammer and Jordan.
 
"I thought we played really well today," said Longwood head coach Kevin Fillman. "Sure, we executed a few shots poorly and had a couple mental mistakes that cost us shots, but overall we did just about everything we planned to do.
 
"To get where we want to go in the future, we definitely need to clean up the mental errors. Scott did a fantastic job today. He hit a lot of shots right where he was looking, which is a pretty great feeling for a player, and he made a lot of the putts that he had higher percentage chance of making. As he's been all fall, Nick was solid all week. The other guys all did their jobs as well. We talk about 'everybody doing his job' as a team all the time, so, as a coach, it's nice to see it actually happen."
 
Rakes fired his second sub-par round of the tournament Tuesday and finished a career-best 5-under overall to tie for 10th place. Rakes, who in Monday's second round carded a career-low 66, fired a two-under 69 in his final round to finish 73-66-69—208 and vault the Lancers into a tie for third place alongside Big South rival Radford and trailing only Elon's tournament-champion A squad and second-place Appalachian State.
 
Along with Rakes, Longwood's contributions came from up and down the lineup throughout the tournament, with Jordan continuing his breakout freshman campaign by matching his senior teamate Hammer with an even-par 72-69-72—213. Senior Brendan Dunphy followed in 33rd place with a steady 72-72-70—214 (+1), followed by Michael, who carded a 74-69-72—215 (+2) to place tied for 40th.
 
The Elon Phoenix Invitational is the fifth of six tournaments this fall for the Lancers, who will now have more than a week to prepare for their fall finale at the three-day OBX Collegiate hosted by Old Dominion at Powells Point, N.C.'s Kilmarlic Golf Club.
 
Elon Phoenix Invitational
Oct. 12, 2021 (Day 2 of 2)
Burlington, N.C. (Alamance Country Club)
Par 71, 6,867 Yards
 
Team Results
1. Elon A (272-264-285—821, -31)
2. Appalachian State (278-275-277—830, -22)
T-3. Longwood (289-276-278—843, -9)
T-3. Radford (281-280-282—843, -9)
5. Elon B (280-279-288—847, -5)
6. Temple (287-278-284—849, -3)
7. Gardner-Webb (285-283-283—851, -1)
8. Ohio (283-282-292—857, +5)
9. George Mason (286-284-288—858, +6)
10. George Washington (282-288-293—863, +11)
11. North Carolina A&T (297-289-292—878, +26)
12. Presbyterian (300-299-298—897, +45)
13. La Salle (303-302-300—905, +53)
 
Longwood Individual Results (84 participants)
T-10. Nick Rakes (73-66-69—208, -5)
T-27. Scott Jordan (72-69-72—213, E)
T-27. Ryan Hammer (72-69-72—213, E)
T-33. Brendan Dunphy (72-72-70—214, +1)
T-40. Christian Michael (74-69-72—215, +2)
 
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