The UNC Wilmington men’s golf team began the spring season Sunday by hosting the Seahawk Intercollegiate at the Country Club of Landfall. Heading into the final round of the tournament Monday morning, the Seahawks are tied for sixth place out of 12 teams.

Payne McLeod (74-71=145), Thomas Bass (74-74=148) and Stefan Brewer (72-77=149) led the team as each of them carded top 20 scores individually through two rounds.

“We had a solid day for our first day out,” said coach Matt Clark. “We weren’t as good as some of the other teams, but we still have another day. We might have a special round left in us. All in all, it was a success. It’s not exactly where we want to be, but it was a success and a decent start to the year.”

Throughout the course of the morning and afternoon, the players had to pace themselves and stay focused as they squeezed two rounds of golf into one day.

“It definitely wears me out, I know that,” said McLeod, who is the reigning CAA Rookie of the Year. “I feel like I’m more patient when we play 36 holes, though, because you can get into a groove. And then if you’re playing bad, you know you have a lot more time to find that groove.

“But, it’s definitely more fun playing that many holes in one day with your friends during the summer.”

Along with fatigue and stress, cold temperatures and blustery winds made the course more difficult. “The weatherman missed the forecast today,” Clark said with a laugh. “We were all expecting it to be a little bit warmer, but it was really cold this morning. It’s tough when you have really fast greens and when you can’t feel your hands; it makes it tough because you can’t control the speed of the golf ball.”

The Seahawks will tee off Monday morning as they try to make a push up the leaderboard in the final round.