St. Simons Island, Ga. – Western Carolina sophomore Jace Butcher carded a season-low round of 3-under par 68 on Thursday to sit among a team-best tie for ninth place in leading the Catamounts to 14th overall after 18 of the scheduled 54 holes at The Peoples Championship at Sea Palms Resort. Butcher is just five strokes off the pace entering Friday's second round, while the Catamounts are only four strokes outside the team top 10 at their spring tournament.
 
Butcher logged a bogey-free first round with 15 pars and three birdies on the front nine to shoot 68, a stroke off his career-low round. Two of his birdies came on par-5 layouts and the third on a par-4.
 
He is followed by junior Ivan Ninkovic, four strokes back with an opening-round 1-over par 72, tied for 40th. Ninkovic countered three bogeys on the back nine with a pair of birdies on the front to hit the clubhouse after 18 holes. Sophomore Dalton Payne countered six bogeys with three birdies for his 3-over par round of 74, tied for 65th.
 
Rounding out WCU's scoring five after 18 holes are junior transfer Callum Waugh in a tie for 96th with a 77 on Thursday, and freshman Chase Cline tied for 106th after shooting 78. Waugh had two birdies and Cline one in the opening round.
 
Four Catamounts are in the field unattached as individuals with senior Kiefer Bulau and sophomore Michael Bevins leading that quartet in a tie for 65th with matching first-round scores of 3-over par 75. Bevins charted three birdies on the front nine against four bogeys and one double-bogey, while Bulau had a pair of birdies against three bogeys and one double.
 
Redshirt junior Josh Lendach is tied for 78th after shooting 4-over par 75, with sophomore Andrew Korytoski in a tie for 83rd a stroke back at 5-over par 76. Among WCU's individuals, Lendach carded the most birdies with four.
 
UNCG matched the tournament's record low team round with an opening-round 16-under par 268, matching two-time defending champion Davidson's final round of the 2023 tournament to lead the 20-team field after Thursday's first round. Davidson sits nine strokes in arrears of the Spartans with a first-round score of 277, followed by Richmond (278), Villanova (280), and Mount St. Mary's (281) rounding out the top five.
 
Jake Lewis of UNCG matched the event's lowest individual round with an 8-under par opening round 63 to carry a one-stroke advantage into the second round over Winthrop's Logan Lutz who posted a 7-under par 64. Lewis charted eight birdies in a bogey-free round on Thursday, while Lutz countered a pair of bogeys with seven birdies and an eagle on the par-4, 372-yard 11th. UNCG's Kelvin Hernandez is two strokes off the pace in third after a first-round score of 6-under par 65 to round out the top three.
 
Play continues Friday with both morning and afternoon waves of tee times off both the front and back nines with start times opposite of where teams started in the first round. Again paired with golfers from Davidson and Xavier, WCU's scoring five hits the course off the front nine beginning in the afternoon wave at 12:40 p.m.
 
Live scoring is available online through LeaderboardKing.
 
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14 – Western Carolina – 291 (+7)
T9 – Jace Butcher – 68 (-3)
T40 – Ivan Ninkovic – 72 (+1)
T65 – Dalton Payne – 74 (+3)
T96 – Callum Waugh – 77 (+6)
T106 – Chase Cline – 78 (+7)
T65 – Kiefer Bulau (ind.) – 74 (+3)
T65 – Michael Bevins (ind.) – 74 (+3)
T78 – Josh Lendach (ind.) – 75 (+4)
T83 – Andrew Korytoski (ind.) – 76 (+5)