ROME, Ga. — The suspense was worth the wait.

After finishing its round, Averett University men's golf was forced to watch the scoreboard to see if its team score would hold on for the top spot Tuesday. Ultimately, the Cougars' 10-over-par 586 was just good enough as Averett won the Chick-fil-A Invitational hosted by Berry College.

Averett edged host No. 17/19 Berry by one stroke to win its first tournament of the year on the par-72, 6,809-yard course at Stonebridge Golf Club.

Down the stretch, Averett held a two-stroke lead before Berry closed the gap to tie it up at 10-over. Freshman Nick Baum's birdie on No. 2 — his final hole of the day — helped push Averett ahead by one stroke at 9-over. However, a bogey by the Cougars knotted the score at 10-over once again momentarily until a Berry bogey dropped the Vikings back to 11-over with only one hole remaining.

Senior Killian O'Reilly, the last Cougars to finish up, parred his final hole on No. 1 to keep Averett on top with a one-stroke lead. From there, Averett had to sit and wait for Berry's top two golfers to finish their rounds on No. 18. Luckily for the Cougars, both of the Vikings' golfers parred the hole to leave Berry one stroke behind Averett.

It was Averett's first team victory since taking the top spot at Guilford College's O'Brient-Jensen Memorial in October 2023.

Individually, junior Miguel Rodriguez Lamana shot an even-par 144 over two rounds to tie for fourth overall out of 127 golfers. However, the Cougars played so well as a team during Tuesday's final round that they didn't even need his 4-over 76 score to count toward the team score on the last day. O'Reilly shot a 1-under 71 on Tuesday to jump up to 10th on the leaderboard at 3-over for the 36-hole event. Junior Alexander Vidmo shot a 1-over on Day 2 to finish 12th overall at 4-over, one stroke behind O'Reilly. Freshman Benjamin Afzelius shot an even-par 72 over the final round to keep him at 5-over for the tournament to earn a tie for 19th. Baum shot 2-over Tuesday to finish at 7-over for a top-30 placement.

Playing as an individual, freshman Zack Always shot 10-over to place 54th in the field.

Southern Virginia University's Dax Anderson held on to his opening-day lead on Tuesday to win medalist honors by one stroke at 5-under, just ahead of Covenant College's Drew Silman. Berry's Kevin Verrill placed third at 2-under.

Averett finishes its fall schedule at the O'Brient-Jensen Memorial held Oct. 28-29.