Pawley's Island, S.C. – Western Carolina's Tyler Jones and Jace Butcher are both perched atop the individual leaderboard after Sunday's opening 18 holes of the curtain-raising Golfweek Fall Challenge to lead the Catamounts to a fifth-place tie on Sunday at the par-72, 7,013-yard True Blue Golf Course.
 
Jones, a redshirt sophomore transfer from Charlotte, impressed in his Catamount debut, carding a first-round 6-under par, 66, to edge ahead of junior teammate Jace Butcher, who is a stroke back in a two-way tie for second after 18 of the scheduled 54 holes. Nick Etherton of Tennessee Tech matched Butcher's 5-under round, with seven golfers within two strokes of the lead in a tie for fourth at 4-under par 68.
 
Action resumes on Monday morning with set tee times off both the first and 10th tees beginning at 7:30 a.m. Paired with Mercer and Nevada, the Catamount scoring five hits the course starting at 8:15 a.m., with Jones teeing off around 8:51 a.m. on the front nine.
 
WCU's individual Josh Lendach ranks highest of those unattached in a tie for 16th, and tees off on the back nine beginning at 8:30 am. Lendach posted four birdies, 13 pars, and one double-bogey on the par-5 ninth over his opening 18 holes.
 
Live scoring through GolfStat is available online with links on CatamountSports.com.
 
In his Catamount debut, Jones posted a bogey-free opening round, carding  12 pars and six birdies that ranked him tied for fourth in the field after 18 holes. Originally from Jacksonville, N.C., Jones birdied his first two holes for the Purple & Gold before adding a third on the par-5 fourth to sit at 3-under par. He closed his front nine with a fourth birdie, turning for home at 4-under. He tacked on two additional birdies against seven pars on the back nine for the leading first-round tally.
 
Butcher carded one of only two eagles in Sunday's opening round, adding four birdies to counter a bogey to turn for home at 5-under par. The Kennesaw, Ga., native slipped to 4-under par with a bogey on the par-3 11th, but rallied with his fifth birdie of the day to regain his 5-under par score. He finished the day with six consecutive pars to shoot 67.
 
Jones and Butcher are tied for the tournament's best par-5 scoring at 4-under (4.20), with Butcher ranking among the leaders in par-4 scoring at 2-under (3.75).
 
Senior Ivan Ninkovic made the turn to the back nine at even, charting a pair of birdies among his first five holes before two bogeys on holes No. 7 and 9. He posted a pair of birdies on the back, but a trio of bogeys relegated him to 1-over par, 73.
 
Rounding out WCU's scoring five are junior Andrew Korytoski in 67th overall at 4-over par, and true freshman Charlie Coe in 75th at 10-over 82 in his collegiate debut. Korytoski had three birdies on Sunday with Coe carding one on the par-5 15th.
 
Georgia Southern blistered the course on Sunday, carding a 12-under par 276, and will carry a two-stroke edge over North Alabama (278) into Monday's second round. Nevada and future Southern Conference foe Tennessee Tech posted matching scores of 9-under par 279 to sit three strokes off the pace in a two-way tie for third. The Catamounts and current fellow SoCon-member Mercer hold a two-way tie for fifth with identical opening-round tallies of 6-under par, 282.
 
Action continues Monday with set tee times before concluding Tuesday with the final 18 holes.
 
T5 – Western Carolina – 282 (-6)
1 – Tyler Jones – 66  (-6)
T2 – Jace Butcher – 67 (-5)
T46 – Ivan Ninkovic – 73 (+1)
67 – Andrew Korytoski – 76 (+4)
75 – Charlie Coe – 82 (+10)
T16 – Josh Lendach (ind.) – 70 (-2)