State College, Pa. – Western Carolina's Andrew Korytoski posted his best rounds of the spring semester on Saturday, shooting 1-under par 70 and even-par 71 for a 36-hole tally of 141 to lead the Catamounts in a four-way tie for fourth place entering Sunday's final round at the Rutherford Intercollegiate, being contested at the par-71, 7,130-yard Blue Course at the Penn State Golf Course.
 
WCU is tied for sixth place after Saturday's opening two rounds, posting scores of 293 and 289 for a 36-hole score of 582.
 
The final round is scheduled for Sunday with set tee times off both the front and back nine beginning at 8 a.m. Paired with golfers from Longwood and host Penn State, the Catamount scoring five hit the course off the No. 10 tee box beginning at 9:12 a.m. WCU's individual Michael Bevins opens his final round at 8:54 a.m. on the front nine.
 
Live scoring through the Scoreboard app, powered by Clippd, is available online at CatamountSports.com.
 
Opening on the front nine, Korytoski had a quiet first round, shooting even-par through eight of his first nine holes before birdieing the par-5 ninth to make the turn at 1-under par. A second, first-round birdie moved him to 2-under par 13 holes into the day before his lone blemish with a bogey on the par-3 14th left him at 1-under par, 71.
 
The second 18 holes for the Cataula, Ga., product were a bit more eventful, countering four bogeys with four birdies to finish at even-par. One-over after the first hole, Korytoski birdied three-straight holes to move to 2-under par where he stayed through the turn with five-straight pars. Bogeys on the par-4 10th and par-3 14th left him even before moving back to 1-under with his fourth birdie on the par-3 17th. However, he was relegated to even with a bogey on his final hole of the day.
 
Junior Ivan Ninkovic is just outside the individual top 10, tied for 11th at 1-over par 143. Like Korytoski, Ninkovic's first round was relatively quiet with two double bogeys and one bogey countered by one birdie to shoot 4-over 75. Opening the second round at 4-over par through the first six holes, Ninkovic turned his second round on its ear over the final 10 holes. The Pula, Croatia product carded an eagle on the par-5, 519-yard ninth to move to the final nine holes at 2-over par. He closed the day with birdies on five of the last nine holes to shoot 3-under par 68 to rally to the 11th-place tie.
 
Rounding out WCU's scoring five, freshman Chase Cline posted consecutive rounds of 3-over par 74 to shoot 6-over 148 to sit in a tie for 31st overall, just ahead of sophomore Jace Butcher in a tie for 40th with a score of 150 (74-76). Cline charted five birdies and Butcher four in Saturday's first two rounds. Senior Kiefer Bulau is tied for 67th with a 36-hole score of 159.
 
Playing unattached as an individual, sophomore Michael Bevins posted rounds of 76 and 75 to enter the final day in a tie for 44th with a score of 9-over par 151.
 
Delaware leads the 12-team field with a three-stroke edge over runner-up Long Island as the Blue Hens shot 1-under par 567 with the Sharks shooting 570 between the opening two rounds. The top two are two strokes clear of third-place Rhode Island (572), with Longwood (573) and host Penn State (575) rounding out the top five. WCU is tied with UConn with a two-round score of 582, seven strokes outside of the top five teams. Bevins tallied six birdies on Saturday, three in both rounds.
 
Luke Stennett of Rhode Island and Long Island's Arjun Singh Bhatia are tied atop the individual leaderboard with matching 36-hole scores of 5-under par 137. Stennett opened the day with a 5-under par 66 before shooting even-par in round two. Singh Bhatia rebounded from a first-round, even-par 71 with a 5-under 66 to climb six spots into the two-way tie for the lead.
 
Delaware's Pasit Iampongsai is in third, two strokes off the pace at 3-under par 139, with Korytoski in the four-way tie for fourth at 1-under par, 141.
 
WCU's final round of its penultimate event ahead of the Southern Conference Men's Golf Championship gets underway with set tee times off the front and back nines at 8 a.m. on Sunday.
 
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T6 – Western Carolina – 293 – 289 = 582 (+14)
T4 – Andrew Korytoski – 70-71 = 141 (-1)
T11 – Ivan Ninkovic – 75-68 = 143 (+1)
T31 – Chase Cline – 74-74 = 148 (+6)
T40 – Jace Butcher – 74-76 = 150 (+8)
T67 – Kiefer Bulau – 78-81 = 159 (+17)
T44 – Michael Bevins (ind.) – 76-75 = 151 (+9)