Darton Cavalier golf team leads Hurricane Invitational by a stroke

ALBANY — A familiar name is leading the Darton State College golf team after 36 holes in the Georgia Southwestern Hurricane Invitational at the Doublegate Country Club.

Finlay Mason shot a first round score of 70, then finished the second round with a 71 to lead the field by two strokes Monday afternoon. The final round will be played Tuesday morning.

Mason’s efforts helped the Cavaliers to a first-place lead in the team standings. Darton shot a 299 in the opening round, then finished with a 302 in the afternoon to lead second-place North Georgia by a stroke. Host Georgia Southwestern (305-299) is third and trails by three strokes.

After the Cavaliers won their last two tournaments, Darton men’s golf coach Gary Hilton wasn’t as pleased with Monday’s performance.

“We’ve got to have some guys play more consistently,” Hilton said. “We’re a Jekyll-and-Hyde team. One day, we look like we know what we’re doing, then the next …. The bottom line is we’ve got to have some more guys step up.”

Josh Robertson (74-74) finished in a three-way tie for fifth, seven strokes behind Mason. Rob Simpson finished in a tie for 20th at 155 (80-75), Hunter Tidwell finished in a tie for 27th at 158 (79-79), Bailey Ulp finished in a tie for 29th at 159 (81-78) while Harrison Mohr finished in a tie for 29th at 159 (76-83).

While the rest of the team may not have played up to its standards, it didn’t matter the way Mason was playing.

“Finlay is on a stretch where he is playing lights out golf,” Hilton said. “His last eight rounds, he is 14 under par with two straight victories. That is unheard of numbers. I hope he keeps the run up as long as he can.”

Hilton hopes the Cavaliers will finish strong on Tuesday.

“We’ve got to go win it, nobody is going to hand it to us,” he said. “We’ve been able to finish well in the last two tournaments, but we’ve got to play better.”