Sapphire, N.C. – Western Carolina men's golf carded a two-round score of 1-under par 567 on Monday to sit in seventh place just two strokes outside the top five and only 10 strokes off the lead at the 2023 JT Poston Invitational hosted at the par-71, 7,007-yard Country Club of Sapphire Valley.
 
The Catamounts slid four spots over the second 18 holes on Monday after ending the first round in third place at its home tournament. The final round is scheduled for a shotgun start at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday with WCU paired with Georgia Southern, Radford, and Queens University of Charlotte.
 
Live scoring through GolfStat is available online through a link at CatamountSports.com.
 
Sophomore transfer Ivan Ninkovic leads the Catamounts in a tie for eighth place with a two-round score of 137, posting rounds of 4-under par 67 and 1-under par 70 on Monday. Ninkovic carded six birdies on Monday – three in both rounds – with an eagle on the par-5 14th in round one as a part of his 5-under-par day. The Pula, Croatia, product charted 26 pars in the first two rounds.
 
Fifth-year senior Magnus Pedersen posted consecutive rounds of 1-under par 70 to sit tied for 20th overall. He recorded seven birdies including four over the opening 18 holes, adding an eagle to move to 4-under par. However, he closed the first round with bogeys on four of the final six holes to finish at 70. Redshirt junior Pablo Hernandez is seven positions back in a tie for 27th with a 2-over par 142. He opened with a 2-under par 69, shooting 4-under par through the first 12 holes before finishing the final six at 2-over par. Hernandez posted four birdies in round two but was countered by four bogeys and one double-bogey.
 
Rounding out WCU's scoring five are true freshman Jace Butcher in a tie for 82nd at 7-over par 149, and junior Kiefer Bulau in a tie for 86th with a two-round score of 151. Butcher posted four birdies on Monday – three coming in the second round – while Bulau carded all three of his opening-day birdies in round one.
 
Four Catamounts are playing unattached as individuals with freshman Dalton Payne leading the quartet in a seven-way tie for 13th with a two-round score of 3-under par 139. His classmate Andrew Korytoski sits in a tie for 40th overall at 2-over par 144 after tying for the most pars in the field over the opening 36 holes. Making his collegiate debut, freshman Michael Bevins is tied for 71st at 148, with redshirt sophomore Josh Lendach shooting 151 to sit tied with Bulau in 86th overall.
 
Knocking 13 strokes off its first-round score, Drexel vaulted six spots in Monday's second round to lead the 16-team field after 36 holes in its first appearance in the tournament. The Dragons tied the eighth-best single-round in tournament history over the second 18 holes to hold a three-stroke advantage over second-place High Point 557-to-560 entering the final round. Xavier (563) likewise climbed six positions into third place, six strokes off the pace with Augusta (564) and Georgia Southern (565) – the biggest movers in round two – advancing seven spots to round out the top five.
 
Individually, Xavier's Carson Bellish tied the second-lowest round in tournament history with a 7-under par 64 to go along with an opening-round 3-under par 68 to pace the 100-golfer field by two strokes over a two-way tie for the runner-up spot. Appalachian State's Addison Beam and unattached individual Remi Chartier of ETSU carded matching scores of 8-under par 134 to enter Tuesday in second place.
 
Complete results and recaps of Tuesday's final round will be made available after the conclusion of play in the third round.
 
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7 – Western Carolina – 280 – 287 = 567 (-1)
T8 – Ivan Ninkovic (3) – 67 – 70 = 137 (-5)
T20 – Magnus Pedersen (2) – 70 – 70 = 140 (-2)
T27 – Pablo Hernandez (1) – 69 – 73 = 142 (E)
T82 – Jace Butcher (4) – 75 – 74 = 149 (+7)
T86 – Kiefer Bulau (5) – 74 – 77 = 151 (+9)
T13 – Dalton Payne (ind.) – 67 – 72 = 139 (-3)
T40 – Andrew Korytoski (ind.) – 73 – 71 = 144 (+2)
T71 – Michael Bevins (ind.) – 70 – 78 = 148 (+6)
T86 – Josh Lendach (ind.) – 75- 76 = 151 (+9)