Myrtle Beach, S.C. – Western Carolina men's golf is in the clubhouse in 12th place after Monday's opening round at the 2024 General Hackler Championship, hosted by Coastal Carolina at the par-72, 7,233-yard Dunes Golf & Beach Club. Sophomore transfer Ivan Ninkovic leads the Catamount scoring five through 18 holes, firing an even-par 72 to sit in a tie for 13th place in the individual standings.
 
The event's second round is scheduled for Tuesday with set tee times off both the front and back nine beginning at 9 a.m. with nine-minute increments. WCU's scoring five will start on the No. 10 tee starting at 9:12 a.m. Live scoring through GolfStat is available online through a link at CatamountSports.com.
 
Opening on the back nine, Ninkovic carded a trio of birdies to counter a double-bogey on the par-3 12th and a bogey on the par-3 17th to make the turn to the front at even-par. A birdie on the par-5 fourth moved him to 1-under for the day until a bogey on the par-4 seventh relegated him to even. The Pula, Croatia, product carded 11 pars on Monday. Ninkovic carded his 13th seasonal round of 72-or-better.
 
Redshirt senior Pablo Hernandez carded a first-round score of 2-over par 74 to sit in a tie for 33rd with fifth-year senior Magnus Pedersen in a tie for 54th two strokes back at 4-over par 76. Hernandez carded four birdies including three on the front nine alone to counter four bogies as he posted 1-over par scores on both the front and back. Pedersen was 1-under par six holes into his first round after starting on No. 10, turning to the front with back-to-back bogeys to sit 1-over. Pedersen fought through four bogies before securing his second birdie on the par-5 eighth to shoot 4-over on the day.
 
Rounding out WCU's scoring five are redshirt sophomore Josh Lendach in a tie for 64th at 5-over par 77 and junior Kiefer Bulau in a tie for 76th after shooting 81. Lendach turned to the front nine at 6-over par before carding his two birdies among his first four holes on the front nine. Bulau had seven bogeys and a double-bogey to accompany 10 pars including two straight to close Monday's round.
 
Louisville and Southern Conference member Chattanooga are tied for the team lead after 18 holes with matching scores of 2-under par 286. Another league school – ETSU – is in third place a stroke in arrears at 287 with the two-way tie between College of Charleston and UNCW at 288 rounding out the top five. The Top 10 teams in the standings are all within 10 strokes of the tournament lead after the first round.
 
Chattanooga's John Houk and Walker Isley of UNCW carded matching rounds of 5-under par 67 to lead the 81-golfer field after the first round. ETSU's Mats Ege and Max Kennedy of Louisville are a stroke back in a tie for third place.
 
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12 – Western Carolina – 299 (+11)
T13 – Ivan Ninkovic – 72 (E)
T33 – Pablo Hernandez – 74 (+2)
T54 – Magnus Pedersen – 76 (+4)
T64 – Josh Lendach – 77 (+5)
T76 – Kiefer Bulau – 81 (+9)