Strong Finish Highlights Day at Valspar Collegiate

PALM CITY, Fla. – Battling an elite field, the Wake Forest men’s golf team finished the first day of the Valspar Collegiate strong Monday to help put them in the conversation with multiple top-25 ranked teams.

At the end of the second round, Wake Forest found a flurry of birdies to help put them toward the middle of the stacked field that includes 11 top-40 teams including six teams currently in the top 10 of the GolfStat rankings.

The Demon Deacons as a team are tied for 11th with a two-round score of 572 (+4), sitting ahead of or tied with multiple ranked teams including No. 9 and 2021 NCAA Champion Pepperdine.

On Monday, the Demon Deacons were led by strong performances from senior Mark Power and freshman Andrew McLauchlan. Both players took turns leading the Deacs in round one and round two.

Power helped pace the Deacs effort in the opening round with a 69 (-2) and he was tied for 16th individually after 18 holes of play. McLauchlan took the reins in the second round, carding the lowest score by any Demon Deacon on Monday with a 68 (-3). This helped him be the largest riser, moving up 36 spots on the individual leaderboard.

Both Power and McLauchlan are tied as the top Wake Forest players on the individual leaderboard at even par for the tournament and in 28th.

The Deacs have tended to play their best golf in the final round of the tournament this season with three of the four lowest rounds coming in the final rounds of tournaments this season. This including the Battle at Briar’s Creek where Wake Forest fought back from eight strokes down going into the final day to pull ahead and win by nine stokes, a 17-stroke difference:

The final round will begin tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. The Demon Deacons will be paired with Georgia Southern, Northwestern and Duke with…