St. Simons Island, Ga. – Junior Tumi Kúld and sophomore Pierre Viallaneix carded matching scores of 3-under par 68 on Thursday to lead Western Carolina to third-place after 18 of the scheduled 54 holes at the Sea Palms Invitational at the par-71, 6,608-yard Sea Palms Resort.
 
Opening on the back nine, Viallaneix birdied two of his first six holes before a bogey on the par-4 18th had him making the turn at 1-under par. Birdies on three of the first four holes on the front nine moved him to 4-under par and a stroke off the lead, but a bogey on the par-3 ninth relegated him into the tie for seventh at 68.
 
Kúld likewise made the turn to the front nine at 1-under par, countering a bogey on the par-4 14th with a pair of birdies. The Akureyri, Iceland, native moved to 3-under par with birdies on the first and fourth holes before a bogey on the par-4 fifth. Kúld finished the round strong with a birdie on the par-3 ninth to climb into the seventh-place tie.
 
Viallaneix and Kúld both carded a team-best five birdies in the opening round.
 
Junior Louis Theys finished with four birdies on the day to counter three-consecutive bogeys that came on the last three holes of the back nine before turning to the front. He rallied, though, shooting 2-under on the front nine for the 1-under, 70, to stand tied for 17th.
 
Rounding out WCU's scoring five are sophomore Magnus Pedersen tied with nine others for 28th and freshman Presten Richardson in a six-way tie for 52nd. Pedersen had four birdies to counter three bogeys and one double-bogey, while Richardson had two birdies on the front nine against a trio of double-bogeys.
 
Three Catamounts are playing unattached as individuals led by sophomore Quinton Metz in a tie for 59th at 4-over par 75. Seniors Michael Coe and Zach Caudill are tied for 66th and 84th, respectively. Metz had an up-and-down day with four combined birdies, while Coe had two – playing the front nine at 2-under par – and Caudill had one.
 
Four golfers, including two from Kennesaw State, posted first-round scores of 5-under par, 66, on Thursday to sit tied atop the leaderboard Luke Phillips and teammate Takafumi Shimoji are tied with Chattanooga's Paul Conroy and Josh Edgar from Georgia State to lead the 88-golfer field.
 
Coached by former WCU head coach Bryant Odom, Kennesaw State leads the 16-team field after shooting 9-under par 275 Thursday, leading Jacksonville State (277) by two strokes. WCU is third, three strokes off the lead at 278, with Appalachian State (283) and a two-way tie between Western Kentucky and Georgia State at even-par 284, rounding out the top five.
 
Playing amongst its scoring five, WCU hits the course first on the front nine on Friday at 8:00 am, with the trio of Catamount individuals teeing off at 10:00 am on the first hole. Live scoring is available online at GolfStat.com.
 
3 – Western Carolina – 278 = 278 (-6)
T7 – Pierre Viallaneix – 68 = 68 (-3)
T7 – Tumi Kúld – 68 = 68 (-3)
T17 – Louis Theys – 70 = 70 (-1)
T28 – Magnus Pedersen – 72 = 72 (+1)
T52 – Presten Richardson – 75 = 75 (+4)
T59 – Quinton Metz (ind.) – 76 = 76 (+5)
T66 – Michael Coe (ind.) – 77 = 77 (+6)
T84 – Zach Caudill (ind.) – 83 = 83 (+12)