GADSDEN, Ala. – Competing for the second time this season following a two-week hiatus from competition, USC Upstate mens' golf battled the tough Backbreaker and Heartbreaker courses at RTJ at Silver Lakes as play at the Graeme McDowell Invitational wrapped Tuesday afternoon.
 
Making his collegiate debut, freshman Elias Becker found himself in the Graeme McDowell Invitational's top-25 throughout the duration of the event, claiming a tie for 23^rd in his first collegiate tournament. He fashioned scores of 75-76-77-228 with his opening-round 75 tying for the lowest single round by a Spartan at the event.
 
Behind Becker on the Spartans' leaderboard, a pair of Upstate golfers made jumps up the leaderboard with senior Brady Hinkle jumping 16 spots, tying for 46^th, and freshman Christophe Palmans jumped nine spots, placing 62^nd. Both men posted final-round 75s as Hinkle carded marks of 82-79-75-236 while Palmans wrote in scores of 83-83-75-241.
 
As a team, Upstate marked down totals of 316-319-314-949 to place 12^th at the Graeme McDowell Invitational.
 
Scoring Summary
USC Upstate (316-319-314-949) – 12^th
Elias Becker (75-76-77-228) – t-23^rd
Brady Hinkle (82-79-75-236) – t-46^th
Christophe Palmans (83-83-75-241) – 62^nd
Sebastian Trujillio (79-80-86-245) – 69^th
Zander Briggs (76-82-88-246) – 70^th
Panop Norasing (83-82-87-252) – 71^st
 
Notable

• Leading to his top-25 finish, Elias Becker tied for 16^th in the Graeme McDowell Invitational field in Par-4 Scoring, posting a scoring average of 4.20 (+6).
• Carding eight birdies throughout the duration of the event, Christophe Palmans tied for 10^th in the tournament field in the category.

 
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