Hodge wins Tusculum Invitational title; Senators finish second

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — Walters State's Alex Hodge didn't have quite the same day Sunday at Link Hills Country Club as he did in the opening round of the Tusculum Invitational on Saturday, but it was still good enough to easily bring home medalist honors.

Hodge fired a final round score of 1-over par 72, paired with his opening round 5-under par 66, to win the tournament title by five shots, as he ended up at 4-under par 138 for the 36-hole event.

Hodge's individual win wasn't good enough to keep Walters State in the driver's seat for the team title however, as the Senators ended up in second place behind the host Pioneers after posting a team score of 18-over par 302 on the final day after leading the tournament Saturday following an opening round 5-over par 289.

Tusculum won the team title with a 15-over par score of 583, while WSCC was second at 591 as the two schools were the only ones to finish the tournament with a score better than 600 for the event. Shorter was third at 601, followed by Milligan (615) and Felician (621) in the top five.

Tusculum's B team was sixth at 627, while Franklin (628), Davenport (635), Virginia-Wise (638), Bluefield State (647) and Concord (650) closed out the field of 11 teams.

Following behind Hodge on the scoreboard for the Senators was Hunter Blanken, who finished in third place and grabbed All-Tournament Team honors with a 3-over par total of 145 (70-75). Elliott Smith tied for 17th place at 11-over 153 (75-78), while Andrew Linkous (79-77) and Dane Rheinecker (78-78) both tied for 27th place in the 67-player field.

Tusculum's Jeff Perez finished second at 1-over par 143 (71-72) to be Hodge's closest competition on the individual scoreboard.

The Senators will return to the links on April 1-2 at Walnut Creek Country Club in Goldsboro, North Carolina, to take part in The Trojan Invitational.