Richmond, Ky. – With three golfers inside the individual Top 10 including a pair of freshmen
Kyle Kushnir and
Jake Peacock amidst a three-way tie atop the leaderboard, Western Carolina men's golf leads the 16-team field after 36 of the scheduled 54 holes at the EKU Intercollegiate being held at the par-70, 6,653-yard University Club at Arlington.
WCU posted rounds of 271 and 279 for a two-round score of 550 to lead second-place Jacksonville State (556) by six strokes with 18 holes to play. Dayton is in third at 3-under par 557 with host EKU charging five spots into fourth at 564 while Marshall and Morehead State are tied for fifth with matching scores of 567.
Kushnir led the 92-golfer field after the opening 18 holes posting a career-low round of 6-under par 64 in his first collegiate round. The Raleigh, N.C., native had a bogey-free first round with 12 pars and six birdies. In the second, Kushnir countered three bogeys with a trio of birdies to card an even-par round of 70 to sit at 134 opening day.
Peacock charted five birdies against a pair of bogeys in round one for a 3-under 67 in his first collegiate round for WCU, matching the 3-under 67 in round two with four birdies and one bogey to climb into the three-way tie after sitting second after 18 holes.
Junior
Magnus Pedersen is the third Catamount inside the top 10 with seven birdies over the opening 36 holes. He just missed his career-low round by a stroke with a 2-under par 68 in the season's first round. He countered three bogeys and one double-bogey with three birdies in the second for a 2-over par, 72, to sit tied with six others for eighth place.
Rounding out WCU's scoring five are senior Tumi Kúld in a tie for 26th at 3-over par 143 and junior
Presten Richardson in a tie for 70th at 148 (72-76). Kúld carded seven birdies over the first 36 holes with four in the second-round while Richardson had three birdies on Friday, two in the second round.
Playing unattached as an individual, senior
Louis Theys overcame a six-over par round of 76 in the first round with a 3-under par 67 in round two to climb 51 spots in the standings to sit tied for 26th overall. Theys carded six birdies on Friday.
The final round is scheduled for a 9 am shotgun start on Saturday morning. Live scoring through GolfStat is available online through a link at CatamountSports.com.
