Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – With a pair of freshmen among the individual top 10 after 36 of the scheduled 54 holes at the Fort Lauderdale Intercollegiate, Western Carolina's men's golf team sits in a three-way tie for fourth-place, just two strokes outside of the runner-up position. Sixth after the opening 18 holes, the Catamounts jumped two spots, following-up a first-round 291 with a six-under par 282 in round two at the par-72, 7,052-yard Ft. Lauderdale Country Club.
 
Pierre Viallaneix matched the second-lowest 18-hole score in program history with an 8-under par round of 64 as a part of a 36-hole score of 136 on the opening day. The Apopka, Fla., native vaulted from a 16th-place tie into third in the individual standings, just two strokes in arears of the lead. Viallaneix matched former Catamount Tripp Morrow's round of 64 originally carded at the Sonic / Chattanooga Intercollegiate in the 2003-04 season in the second round on Monday afternoon.
 
After shooting an even-par 72 in the first round, countering three bogeys with a trio of birdies, Viallaneix found his zone in the second 18 holes. Opening on the par-4 fifth, he opened his second round with four-consecutive birdies over his first five holes. On the back nine, Viallaneix carded eight pars and a fifth birdie to sit at 5-under par with four holes to play. He closed his round with three birdies over his final four holes for the 8-under round – the lowest round in the tournament field.
 
Freshman Magnus Pedersen sits in a tie for eighth overall with a score of 3-under par 141 through two rounds of play. Pedersen shot 1-under par in the first round, countering three bogeys and one double-bogey with six birdies for the 1-under, 71. Over the second 18 holes, the Moss, Norway product charted five birdies against a trio of bogeys for the 2-under par round of 70.
 
WCU's freshman tandem are tied for third in the tournament field with 11 birdies apiece.
 
Sophomore Tumi Kúld advanced four spots into a tie for 33rd with a two-round score of 3-over par, 147, countering a 3-over round of 75 with an even-par round of 72. Kúld tallied eight birdies, four per round on Monday. Rounding out WCU's scoring five are sophomore Louis Theys in a tie for 43rd at 149 (73-76) and junior Michael Coe (79-79) in a tie for 72nd.
 
Lynn University, the third-ranked NCAA Division II program in the country, fired a 21-under par 36-hole score of 555 to lead the 15-team field by 16 strokes over tournament-host Loyola Maryland in the runner-up spot at 571. Florida Atlantic (572) is in third-place with WCU, No. 40 South Florida, and Davidson tied for fourth at 573.
 
Carlos Bustos of Lynn leads the 78-golfer field by a stroke over Evan Brown of Loyola Maryland, 134-to-135, with Viallaneix climbing 13 spots into the third position, two strokes off the pace with 18 holes to play.
 
Paired with golfers from Davidson and No. 40 USF, WCU's scoring five hits the course on the front nine with tee times beginning at 8:30 am. Live scoring of the final round is available online at GolfStat.com.
 
T4 – Western Carolina – 291-292 = 573 (-3)
3 – Pierre Viallaneix – 72-64 = 136 (-8)
T8 – Magnus Pedersen – 71-70 = 141 (-3)
T33 – Tumi Kúld – 75-72 = 147 (+3)
T43 – Louis Theys – 73-76 = 149 (+5)
T72 – Michael Coe – 79-79 = 158 (+14)