GREENVILLE, N.C. – North Carolina A&T men's golf returned to competition Monday as the Aggies played in the first two rounds of the Ironwood Collegiate Classic hosted by East Carolina University at the par-72, 7,120-yard Ironwood Country Club.
The Aggies are in 10th place after the first day with a 37-over 613. In his first tournament as an Aggie, freshman Christopher Pieper had A&T's low score on the day with a 4-over 148 debut to put him in an 11-way tie for 21st place.
The Host ECU Pirates lead the tournament at 2-over 578. Gardner-Webb (6-over 582), Delaware (7-over 583), William & Mary (8-over 584) and Winthrop (10-over 586) round out the top-5. Ironwood's leaderboard includes N.C. State's Brandon Einstein in first place after the first two rounds with a 6-under 138. Longwood's Brendan Dunphy is second at 5-under 139. Winthrop's Nick Mayfield and ECU's Phillip Bondestad ended the day tied for third at 4-under, and Delaware's Casper Nerpin and Temple's Conor McGrath tied for fifth at 2-under.
Pieper teed off on the par-4, 370-yard 18th at 9 a.m., Monday. He bogeyed the hole before putting together three straight pars. He then moved back to even par with a birdie on the par-5, 569-yard fourth.
After a bogey on five, he posted a red number again. This time on the 416-yard, par-4 sixth to reach even par. Two more bogeys between holes seven and 12 had Pieper at 2-over before carding his third birdie of the round, a four on the par-5, 574-yard 13th. Pieper closed his opening round with three additional pars and a bogey to finish the first 18 holes at 2-over.
Pieper had an excellent second round, save for a triple bogey on the par-5, 512-yard seventh. After that, he penciled in four birdies on his card. He started his round on the 18th with a birdie. Before reaching the seventh, he birdied another par-5, the 569-yard fourth, to move to 2-under for the round.
After the triple moved him to plus-1, an unfortunate three additional bogeys bumped his score to 4-over. But Pieper finished strong. Birdies on 15 and 16 got him to 2-over for the round.
Senior Diego Gonzalez had an excellent first round for the Aggies as he finished the day at 5-over. He will go into the final round on Tuesday in a tie for 32nd. Gonzalez carded four first-round birdies after starting the day at the 434-yard, par-4, 15th. After bogeying the 14th, he birdied the par-5, 568-yard 16th to remain at even par until a bogey at No. 1 moved him to 1-over.
He then put together a string of three birdies over the next six holes to get to 2-under. An unfortunate double bogey on the par-3 eighth and a bogey on No. 10 moved him out of the red numbers into the black. Gonzalez parred the final four holes to finish the round at 1-over.
Gonzalez was 4-over after the first eight holes of his second round. He bounded back with a birdie on the par-4 fifth and another on the par-5 seventh to lower his score to 2-over. Three straight bogeys moved him to 5-over, but a birdie on the par-4, 413-yard 12th helped him end his round at 4-over.
Freshman Drew Walker and sophomore Carson Witherspoon finished at 15-over to round out the scorers for the Aggies. Sophomore Martin Gutierrez finished at 17-over.
Round 3 begins Tuesday at 9 a.m. to conclude the tournament.
