PHOENIX, Ariz. –
Jonas DeLeon and James Madison men's golf opened their 2026-27 seasons in style on Tuesday afternoon, as the Dukes captured a tie for seventh place at the Bombs Darts Birds Collegiate, hosted by Southern California at the par-72, 7,334-yard Whirlwind Golf Club.
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The Dukes carded three straight rounds under par, posting scores of 282 and 274 on Monday before closing with a 12-under 276 on Tuesday maintain their hold on seventh in the 13-team field, which included three top-30 teams in No. 22 USC, No. 24 Stanford and No. 28 California.
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JMU's team performances dotted the record books, with the Dukes' second round of 14-under 274 tying for the fifth-best performance in program history. Their final score of 832 (-32) was also the second-lowest 54-hole score to par ever posted at JMU.
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DeLeon made his way into the JMU all-time lists as well, tallying rounds of 70 (-2) and 69 (-3) to start, then finishing with a 6-under 66 that pushed him up into a tie for 11th of 81 players at 11-under 205. His 54-hole score marked the fifth-lowest ever posted by a JMU golfer.
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All four of the Dukes other team scorers tied for 51st at 3-under 213, with
Ethan Anderson (73-73-67) using a final-round 67 (-5) to climb 22 spots on the leaderboard and
René Bergendi (75-68-70) joining him under par on Tuesday with a 2-under 70 to jump six spots himself.
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Blake Hartman (69-71-73) and
Michael Hake (70-66-77) rounded out the JMU scoring alongside their teammates.
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Playing as an individual,
Henry Holland also made waves, posting scores of 65-70-71 to finish at 10-under, good for a tie for 17th. Holland's opening-round 65 (-7) is tied for the sixth-best performance to par in program history.
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The Dukes will be back on the course next week, traveling to Waynesville Country Club to play in the JT Poston Invitational, hosted by Western Carolina on Sept. 13-15.