Greensboro, Ga. – Western Carolina men's golf is eighth after the opening round of the 2024 Southern Conference Men's Golf Championship being contested on the par-72, 7,393-yard Oconee Course at Reynolds Lake Oconee.
 
Sunday's round started in less-than-ideal conditions that began early in the morning with each golfer playing a portion of their first round in the rain.
 
A trio of golfers making their first appearances in the conference champion-crowing event leads the Catamount scoring five. Sophomore Ivan Ninkovic is tied for 20th after an opening-round 2-over par 74, followed by freshmen Jace Butcher (75) in a tie for 22nd and Andrew Korytoski (76) tied for 27th.
 
Ninkovic countered a pair of bogeys on the back nine with consecutive birdies on the first and second holes after making the turn to stand at even-par with seven holes to play. A double-bogey on his 17th hole of the round relegated him to 2-over for the day. Ninkovic led WCU with 13 pars, tied for the third-most in Sunday's opening round.
 
Butcher played the back nine at even-par by countering two bogeys with a pair of birdies. Following a double-bogey on the par-4 second, he was poised to close the round at 2-over before a bogey on his final hole left him at 3-over for the day. His classmate Korytoski carded a team-best four birdies on Sunday including three over his final nine holes after making the turn to the back at 5-over par. His fourth birdie came on his 18th hole to allow move him into the 27th-place tie.
 
Rounding out WCU's scoring five are redshirt senior Pablo Hernandez in a tie for 37th with an 8-over par 80 and fifth-year senior Magnus Pedersen in 39th overall at 9-over par 81. Hernandez birdied the first hole of the tournament on Sunday. At 8-over, he shot even-par on the final four holes of the opening round. Pedersen had four bogeys and two double-bogeys over the opening 18 holes.
 
Led by the individual leader Matthew Dodd-Berry at 7-under-par 65, ETSU sits atop the leaderboard with a nine-stroke lead over second-place Chattanooga following Sunday's first round of play. The Buccaneers concluded the first round with a team score of 13-under-par 275 while the Mocs finished the day with a 4-under 284 performance.
 
Chattanooga's Samuel Espinosa is tied for second on the individual leaderboard alongside defending champion Mats Ege of ETSU at 5-under 67, both trailing Dodd-Berry in the standings.
 
Paired with golfers from Samford, WCU's scoring five is scheduled to hit the course on the back nine beginning at 9:50 a.m. The round opens at 9 a.m. off both the first and 10th tees. Live scoring through Golfstat is available through lines at CatamountSports.com.
 
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8 – Western Carolina – 305 (+17)
T20 – Ivan Ninkovic – 74 (+2)
T22 – Jace Butcher – 75 (+3)
T27 – Andrew Korytoski – 76 (+4)
T37 – Pablo Hernandez – 80 (+8)
39 – Magnus Pedersen – 81 (+9)
 
2024 SoCon Men's Golf Championship
Reynolds Lake Oconee – The Oconee Course
1 – ETSU – 275 (-13)
2 – Chattanooga – 284 (-4)
3 – Furman – 286 (-2)
4 – UNCG – 290 (+2)
5 – Mercer – 296 (+8)
6 – Wofford – 300 (+12)
7 – Samford – 302 (+14)
8 – Western Carolina – 305 (+17)