WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – A week after a sixth-place performance at the VCU Invitational to open the 2019-20 season, the Loyola University Maryland golf team heads south again to play in the Old Town Club Collegiate Invitational, hosted by Golfweek's No. 1 team in the nation, Wake Forest University.
 
The host Demon Deacons are not the only highly-rated team the Greyhounds will face Monday and Tuesday at the 6,966-yard, par-70 Old Town Club. This week's tournament features nine teams ranked in Golfweek's top-100, six which are in the top-50, five in the top-20 and Wake Forest (1^st), Louisville (7^th) and Washington (8^th) that are in the top-10.
 
The full field includes competitors from the Greyhounds, Demon Deacons, Cardinals, Huskies, Augusta, Cincinnati, East Carolina, Georgia Southern, Penn State, Rutgers, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Yale. Teams will play 36 holes Monday followed by 18 on Tuesday.
 
Loyola had a strong showing to open the year, taking sixth at the VCU Invitational with a competition highlighted by a school-record 15-under par in Monday's second round.
 
Evan Brown led the Greyhounds with a tie for fifth-place, carding rounds of 69, 66 and 73 to shoot 8-under for the tournament. The junior shot 8-under alone on the course's four par-5 holes during the three rounds, playing them at an average of 4.33 strokes per hole.
 
Brandon Berry exhibited good consistency at the tournament, posting three rounds at par or under – 72, 68 and 72 – to finish tied for 15^th at 4-under. Preston Ball fired Tuesday's low round for Loyola, 69 and was a shot back of Berry after back-to-back par 72s on Monday to tie for 19^th at 3-under for the tournament.
 
Carlo Pizzano made his collegiate debut at the tournament, tying for 29^th at even-par 216 which was buoyed by a second round 68. Nick Mejia had two rounds of 71 on Monday before shooting 75 Tuesday and was the Greyhounds' No. 5 finisher at 1-over 217.
 
All five of those players will compete again for the Greyhounds, starting at 7:30 on Monday morning when Mejia will be in the first group to tee off. Loyola will play with golfers from Cincinnati and Georgia Southern in the opening round.