MERIDIAN – The Northwest Mississippi Community College men's golf team improved from day one to day two at the Jim Redgate Invitational, finishing in fifth place out of eleven teams and seeing Caeser Ingendorf finish in the top ten for the second tournament this year.

The Rangers shot 308 on the first day and improved by seven strokes to a 301 on day two, jumping ahead of East Central and Pearl River in the standings to match their best finish in a tournament this season.

"We played better and started to scratch the surface of our potential and finishing fifth out of eleven was good. I was pleased with the performance, but we still have several steps to build on," Head Coach Adam Payne said. "Our conference in golf is extremely tough. It's probably the top conference in the country when it comes to golf and I feel like we aren't far away from being in the top three or four."

Individually, the Rangers were paced by Ingendorf who was sitting at one-under par after the opening day. This came after he was three-over after eight holes but a birdie on the ninth springboarded him to a three-under back nine to card a 71.

On day two after teeing off on the fifth hole in the shotgun start, he was able to get as low as three-under going into the 16^th hole but ran into some trouble making the turn, going seven-over on a stretch of six holes, but eagled the par-five fourth to close out his round and move back to two-over, finishing in a tie for eighth.

"Caeser played really well on day one and really got to where he was almost in the lead, just had a few hiccups coming in," Payne said.

The best round on day two came from Atharv Sharma who rallied back from a difficult first day that saw him card an eight-over 80. That came despite an eagle on the 15^th and two birdies that helped to balance out rough holes on the eighth, eleventh, and twelfth holes.

The shotgun start on day two had Sharma beginning on the third and he opened with birdies on the sixth and eighth holes, adding birdies on the 15^th and 18^th to finish the round at even par and move to 21^st place for the tournament with an eight-over across two days.

"It's always good to see the guys play better, especially on day two. We just have to get a little better on day one," Payne said.

Braden Beverage had one of the biggest improvements for Northwest from day one to day two, finishing the tournament at 13-over after posting a ten-over on the first day. Beverage carded four birdies on his second round and played the back-nine to even par with seven pars in the nine-hole stretch.

He finished in a tie for 32^nd and was joined at that position by Cole Elander who had the opposite fortunes hit him. Day one he was able to rally and recover from a four-over start on the first six holes with three birdies in a four-hole stretch to open the back-nine and finished at three-over.

The second day was a little more strenuous for Elander who was still at four-over after his first ten holes, but ran into some trouble down the final three, going five-over on the home stretch to finish at 13-over for the tournament.

Logan Drumwright was the final team scorer for the Rangers, and after a first day that saw him not finish without a birdie on the way to an 86 to open the tournament. His second round was much better right from the start when he birdied his opening hole on the par-four second and added another birdie on the par-five 15^th on the way to a seven-over 79 and his 21-over for the tournament was good for a tie for 56^th in the field.

He finished in that spot along with Matt Cummings who participated as an individual and had one of the more consistent rounds of the team. Day one Cummings shot at ten-over 82 and followed that with an 83 on the second day.

Drew Dabbs finished just ahead of the pair in 54^th and also showed a big improvement on his second day to rally back in the field. After a 13-over, the sophomore rallied to go two over on his starting nine holes and finished the round with a 79 to card a 21-over for the tournament.

The men's golf team will have the next week off as they prepare for their penultimate match of the fall schedule when they head to the Darrell Foreman Invitational hosted by Delta State University at the Cleveland Country Club on October 20^th and 21^st.  

Payne said a lot of practice next week will be working on the course rather than on the range.

"We'll practice on the range the rest of this week and then do more on course stuff and head-to-head stuff to try to create some pressure for the guys to get used to."

More information on that tournament and on the full schedule for Northwest men's and women's golf can be found at nwccrangers.com or by following along with Ranger's social media accounts.