Greenville, S.C. – Sophomore Magnus Pedersen countered three bogeys with an eagle and a birdie to shoot even-par 71 on Friday to sit in a five-way tie for seventh place to lead Western Carolina to a ninth-place tie at the 51st Furman Intercollegiate at the par-71, 6,984-yard Furman University Golf Course.
 
Pedersen made the turn to the back nine at 2-under par with an eagle on the par-5 second hole and a birdie on the par-4 fifth. He tallied two of his three bogeys on the back nine for the even-par round.
 
Freshman Presten Richardson shot 3-over par 74 to sit in a tie for 29th overall, carding a pair of birdies against five bogeys. Sophomore Pierre Viallaneix is tied for 60th with a 5-over par 76 with juniors Tumi Kúld and Louis Theys tied for 73rd overall after a first-round score of 6-over par, 77.
 
Playing unattached as an individual, sophomore Quinton Metz is 102nd with an opening-round 85.
 
Tournament-host Furman leads South Carolina Upstate rival Wofford, by four strokes, 283-to-287, after 18 holes of competition. Florida Gulf Coast is third at 290, with George Mason (292) and Charleston Southern (293) rounding out the top five.
 
Furman's Keller Harper and Colin Slater from George Mason are tied atop the individual leader board with a 5-under par, 66.
 
The second round is scheduled for Saturday, with WCU's scoring five teeing off beginning at 12:50 p.m. with Metz teeing off at 1:40 p.m. Live scoring is available through GolfStat with links online at CatamountSports.com.
 
T9 – Western Carolina – 298 (+14)
T7 – Magnus Pedersen – 71 (E)
T29 – Presten Richardson – 74 (+3)
T60 – Pierre Viallaneix – 76 (+5)
T73 – Louis Theys – 77 (+6)
T73 – Tumi Kúld – 77 (+6)
102 – Quinton Metz – 85 – (+14)