March 17, 2012

Furman University Intercollegiate - Round 1 Results

Greenville, S.C. - Sophomore Jack Walsh carded a one-under, 71, and stands in a tie for 11th-place to lead Western Carolina after the opening round at the 43rd Annual Furman Intercollegiate. The Catamounts posted an opening round of 297 to place 16th out of 21 squads, just seven strokes out of the top five entering Saturday's second round at the par-72, 6,994-yard Furman University Golf Club.

Paired with golfers from Temple and Marshall, WCU's scoring five will tee off beginning at Noon on the back nine with the final Catamount golfer hitting the course at 12:40 pm. Live scoring of the event is available online at Live Scoring.

Troy University fired an opening-round 286 and the University of Georgia's Sepp Straka carded a six-under 66 to hold the lead after the first round. The Trojans opened a two-stroke lead over Wofford (E) and Francis Marion (E) and three-stroke advantage over fourth place Clemson after 18 holes.

Other SoCon foes include Samford (294) in a tie for 10th, the host Paladins (296) in 15th and Elon (303) in 20th-place.

Straka, starting at No. 10 and playing as an individual, shot 32 on the back nine en route to a 66 and two-stroke lead over Coastal Carolina's Sebastian Soderberg (-4) and Michigan's Matt Thompson (-4) who each opened tournament play with a four-under 68.

Walsh finished his back-and-forth round on Friday with seven pars, six birdies and five bogies to be in the clubhouse at one-under. Consecutive birdies on his first two holes moved him to two-under to start the day before back-to-back bogies relegated him back to even par which is where he made the turn.

Walsh played the back nine at one-under, 35, to finish at 71.

Two Catamounts - freshman J.T. Poston and junior Steven Smith - both carded four-over, 75, to stand tied for 59th after 18 holes with sophomore Greg Bunner one-stroke in arrears at 76, tied for 77th, and junior Trey White in a tie for 90th at five-over, 77.

Poston was even through the first five holes before a birdie on the par-5 sixth moved him to one-under par. However, three-straight bogies to end the front and one to start the back relegated him to three-over, matching one final bogie with a birdie to shoot 75.

Smith's front nine was relatively quiet, scoring one birdie to shoot one-under through nine holes. Even through 12 holes, a double-bogey on the par-4 No. 13 was countered two holes later with an Eagle on the par-5 No. 15, advancing him back to even-par. However, a bogie on No. 16 and a double on No. 18 left him tied with Poston at three-over, 75.

With tee times beginning at 8:00 am and continuing through 1:50 pm, the second round is scheduled for Saturday at the Furman University Golf Course.