ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – The No. 2 University of North Georgia (UNG) men's golf team sits in seventh place out of 19 teams at the LMU Spring Kickoff after 36 holes on Monday. 

The first event of the spring season is underway for the Nighthawks and they have some ground to make up after shooting a combined 3-over par on the first day of competition.

UNG trails six other teams as No. 6 Lincoln Memorial (LMU) leads the event at 14-under par. No. 11 Columbus State trails the Railsplitters by four shots after going 10-under on Monday while Wingate is the only other team below par at 8-under after day one. No. 9 Georgia Southwestern sits at even par while No. 21 Lander and Flagler are tied for fifth at one-over, two shots ahead of the Nighthawks.

UNG struggled in round one as only one player went below par in the first 18 holes at the 7,136-yard, par-72 St. Johns Golf and Country Club.

Sophomore Colby Bennett carded four birdies in his final eight holes in round one to finish with a one-under 71. Junior Hunter Smith is competing as an individual in this week's event and he too went below par with a two-under 70 in the opening round.

The Nighthawks rebounded in round two, shooting a combined 286 (two-under par) their second time around the track.

Senior Ethan Day lit up the course in his second round. After shooting a two-over 74 in round one, Day opened the second round with a bogey at the par 4 first hole. He quickly steadied himself with three birdies over the next four holes.

A double bogey at the par 4 sixth set Day back to even for the round but he drained an eagle two holes later on the 565-yard eighth hole to get back to two-under.

On the back nine, Day caught fire to close the round. He posted a bogey-free 32 in the final nine holes to finish with a six-under 66 in round two. 

At four-under for the tournament, Day leads all UNG golfers in sixth place on the individual leaderboard.

Bennett scored consecutive sub-par rounds with another one-under 71 in his second outing as well. He sits in 11th place individually.

The Nighthawks will tee off at 8 a.m. tomorrow, Tuesday, Feb. 11 as they look to mount a comeback on the stacked field that houses five Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) top 25 teams.