Burlington, N.C. – Senior Ivan Ninkovic carded consecutive rounds of 1-under par 70 on Monday to lead Western Carolina in a tie for 18th overall with 18 holes to play at the Phoenix Invitational, hosted by Elon at the par-71, 6,871-yard Alamance Country Club. The Catamounts are in 16th overall entering Tuesday's final round.
 
Paired with the individual competitors in the field, Western Carolina's scoring five and trio of individuals open on the back nine, teeing off hole No. 10 at 9:30 a.m. through 10:15 a.m. Live scoring through Golf Genius is available online through a link at CatamountSports.com.
 
Ninkovic carded a pair of birdies and an eagle to counter three bogeys over his opening 18 holes for the 1-under round of 70, before charting two additional birdies and a fourth bogey of the day to match his opening 70 for a 36-hole score of 140 to lead WCU.
 
Junior Andrew Korytoski posted a two-round score of 5-over par 147 (75-72), with sophomore transfer Tyler Jones in a tie for 64th at 148 (76-72). Rounding out Catamount scoring five are junior Jace Butcher in a tie for 82nd (152) and freshman Charlie Coe in 93rd at 163.
 
WCU also has three individuals in the field, paced by junior Michael Bevins in a tie for 25th overall entering Tuesday's final round. After carding an opening-round 2-over par 73, countering seven bogeys with five bogeys in a busy start to the day, the Fort Myers, Fla., product carded a career-low round of 3-under par 68. Bevins came home with five second-round birdies against a pair of bogeys.
 
Freshman Connor Williams shot a 2-over par 144 with rounds of 2-over par 73 and an even-par 71, for a two-round score of 144, while redshirt senior Josh Lendach posted rounds of 76 and 74 to sit tied for 77th with a 150.
 
UNC Wilmington (547) holds a three-stroke lead over the event host Elon (550) heading into Tuesday morning's final round after the Phoenix posted a second-round score of 268. Longwood (562) is 15 strokes off the pace in third, with a fourth-place tie between Charleston Southern and Queens at 4-under par 564 to round out the top five.
 
Elon's Landon Durham and Jack Boyer of Gardner-Webb are tied atop the individual leader board with matching scores of 9-under par 133, a stroke ahead of Cullen Campbell of Old Dominion to round out the podium through 36 holes.
 
Western Carolina's fall schedule concludes on Tuesday with the final 18 holes in Burlington.
 
16 – Western Carolina – 298 – 289 = 587
T18 – Ivan Ninkovic – 70-70 = 140 (-2)
T57 – Andrew Korytoski – 75-72 = 147 (+5)
T64 – Tyler Jones – 76-72 = 148 (+6)
T82 – Jace Butcher – 77-75 = 152 (+10)
93 – Charlie Coe – 79-84 = 163 (+21)
T25 – Michael Bevins (individual) – 73-68 = 141 (-1)
T40 – Connor Williams (individual) – 73-71 = 144 (+2)
T77 – Josh Lendach (individual) – 76-74 = 150 (+8)