Awendaw, S.C. – Sophomore Jace Butcher and freshman Chase Cline both carded opening-round scores of 1-under par 71 on Sunday to sit in a tie for 22nd overall to lead Western Carolina men's golf individually as the Catamounts are mired in a two-way tie for 14th after 18 holes at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate at the par-72, 7,282-yard Bulls Bay Golf Club.
 
Round two opens on Monday morning with set tee times off the front and back nine beginning at 9 a.m. Paired with golfers from Iowa and Virginia Tech, WCU's scoring five again hits the course on the back nine beginning at 10:30 a.m. Live scoring through the Scoreboard app powered by Clippd is available online through a link at CatamountSports.com.
 
Butcher countered one bogey on the par-4 18th with a pair of birdies for his 1-under par round through Sunday's opening round. Cline had a more active first 18 holes, countering a bogey with a birdie to shoot even on the back before carding two more birdies against a second bogey on the front for his 1-under round.
 
Junior Ivan Ninkovic charted five birdies against five bogeys on Sunday, tied for 38th after shooting an even-par 72. His classmate, junior transfer Callum Waugh, opened the day with back-to-back birdies to start at 2-under par, turning to the front nine at 1-under. However, a trio of bogeys left him at 2-over par 74. Rounding out WCU's scoring five is sophomore Michael Bevins in 84th overall with a 9-over par 81.
 
No. 39 Purdue posted a 13-under par 275 in Sunday's opening round to sit atop the leader board, two strokes ahead of Coastal Carolina (277) with two rounds to play. Furman (279) is four strokes off the pace in third, two strokes up on the fourth-place tie between NC State and Elon at 281.
 
Furman's Clark Akers leads the 84-golfer field after shooting 7-under par 65 on Sunday, carding five birdies and an eagle in a bogey-free round. He leads Matthew Doyle of Elon by a stroke as Doyle countered a bogey with a tournament-best seven birdies, a stroke ahead of a three-way tie for third at 5-under par 67.
 
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T14 – Western Carolina – 288 (E)
T22 – Jace Butcher – 71 (-1)
T22 – Chase Cline – 71 (-1)
T38 – Ivan Ninkovic – 72 (E)
T65 – Callum Waugh – 74 (+2)
84 – Michael Bevins – 81 (+9)