PINE MOUNTAIN, Ga. – All five Eagles shot their best scores of the three-day event in Sunday's final round to catapult the North Carolina Central University men's golf team into a fourth place finish out of 11 teams at the 2024 Northeast Conference (NEC) Men's Golf Championship contested at Callaway Resort & Gardens.
The freshmen tandem of
Iszac Bertagnole and
Jamal Hutchison led the Eagles to their strong fourth-place finish. NCCU was playing in the NEC Championship for just the second time and finished five positions better than its inaugural appearance last season.
Bertagnole was just one of four golfers out of the field of 55 participants to shoot under par for the 54-hole competition. Bertagnole fired rounds of 71, 74 and 70 on the 6,981-yard, par-72 Mountain View layout at the Callaway Resort. His one-under total of 215 was good for a two-way tie for third place and NEC All-Tournament honors. Bertagnole also tied for a tournament-best 16 birdies.
Hutchison improved on his scorecard each day with scorecards of 79, 73 and 71 to finish 16th. Sophomore
Kyle Gregory (77-77-75) and senior
Kendall Wallace (79-77-76) followed in 27th and 31st positions, respectively, which were both improved standings at the NEC Championship from their results last season. Freshman
Isar Joshi provided the maroon and gray with a counting team score of 74 on Sunday.
Bertagnole, Hutchison, Gregory and Wallace now have NCCU's four best individual results at the NEC Championships in the programs short history at the league event.
Hutchison and Gregory both made an Eagle for the Eagles.
NCCU was sitting in seventh position at the end of the first two days with rounds of 303 and 301 before flying past three teams with a two-over par score of 290 on Sunday. Howard University won the NEC team title while Sacred Heart's Marcus Lim won individual medalist with a scorching total of eight-under par.
NC Central will conclude its season by returning to the PGA WORKS Collegiate Championship at TPC Sawgrass on May 6-8.
For more information on NCCU Athletics, visit NCCUEaglePride.com, or download the NCCU Eagles Athletics app.
