Albany Herald

Darton golf coach Bill Jones III wasn't too pleased with his team's first two rounds of the season.

ST. SIMONS ISLAND — Darton has one of the youngest teams in the history of its golf program this season.

In Monday’s opening rounds of their first tournament, they played like freshmen.

“There were a lot of freshmen mistakes,” Darton coach Bill Jones III said.

The Cavs shot a 303 in the morning and a 296 in the evening in the Coastal Georgia Men’s Fall Invitational and sit in seventh place heading into today’s final round.

Freshman TaeHyung Kim’s second round 71 (1-under) was the only under-par score for the Cavs in either round.

Jones, who is entering his second year as head coach, was expecting better results in the opener.

“They weren’t nervous or making bad swings,” Jones said. “It was just poor decision making all day. Even though they are freshmen, they are tournament tested. Freshmanitis really isn’t a good excuse for the scores they shot. They just didn’t execute.”

Darton’s five-man starting lineup had four freshmen — Taylor Martin (75-76), Kim (76-71), Madison Turner (76-74) and Parks Brown (79-75). Sophomore Nick Green also played Monday and shot rounds of 76 and 81.

“The goal (today) is to be the low round and at least win that battle,” Jones said. “We shot ourselves in the foot (Monday).”

DARTON XC FINISHES STRONG: The Darton State College men’s and women’s cross country programs finished 4th and 7th, respectively, at the 2012 Mercer Invitational at the Georgia Children’s Home in Macon on Saturday

With 121 points, the Cavs finished fourth behind Berry College.

Sophomore Cody Mallchok led the Cavs, finishing eighth overall in the men’s 8K race with a time of 26:54.

In the women’s 5K race, Alexis Skiles finished in 20:45 to lead the Lady Cavs to a seventh-place finish.