Playa del Carmen, Mexico – Redshirt sophomore Tyler Jones leads two Catamounts inside the individual Top 10, in the clubhouse in second place after 18 of the scheduled 54 holes at the spring-opening Compadres Collegiate, as Western Carolina men's golf shot 304 to sit fourth in the nine-team field at the par-72, 6,701-yard Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club.
 
Jones was joined near the top of the leaderboard by junior teammate Jace Butcher, among an eight-way tie for eighth, four strokes off the pace after shooting 2-over par, 74, in his first round of the spring.
 
Action resumes on Monday morning with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start. Paired with UTRGV and UTSA, the Catamount scoring-five hits the course between holes No. 5 and No. 8. Live scoring is available online through the Scoreboard app, powered by Clippd,
 
Jones fired an opening-round 1-under par 71 on Sunday to trail event leader Joshua Hong of Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) by a stroke after Hong shot 70. The two pace a three-way tie for third between Hong's UTSA teammate Francisco Solorza-Gutierrez, Alex Huang of North Texas, and Gabriel Dulon Villoslada from Texas-Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), two strokes off the pace with scores of even par, 72.
 
Opening on the par-3 sixth, Jones birdied four of his first nine holes to sit at 4-under par for the day. However, he stumbled with a double-bogey on the par-4, 401-yard 15th, and carded two additional bogeys on holes No. 17 (par-3, 177 yd) and No. 3 (par-4, 354 yd) to sit even through 16 holes. The Jacksonville, N.C., product collected his fifth birdie on his final hole of the opening round on the 489-yard, par-5 fifth to move into the runner-up position.
 
Butcher started at 2-under par with a pair of birdies through his first five holes and moved to the back nine at minus-2, which he carried through seven holes. A hiccup on the par-3, 195-yard 12th, relegated him to 1-over for the day, compounded by a double-bogey on the par-4, 372-yard 16th, had him 3-over par with six holes to play.
 
Butcher closed his day with two more birdies to give him four for the event, finishing with a bogey and a 2-over par, 74.
 
Behind the two inside the Top 10, WCU saw senior Ivan Ninkovic shoot 7-over par 79, in a tie for 30th. Rounding out the Catamount lineup are redshirt senior Josh Lendach (t-37th, 80) and junior Andrew Korytoski (t-51st, 84). Ninkovic and Lendach both carded a trio of birdies, while Korytoski had a pair on Sunday.
 
WCU's trio playing unattached as individuals are each within a stroke of one another, as junior Michael Bevins and freshman Connor Williams both shot 81 to sit tied for 41st overall, while junior Dalton Payne is tied for 45th, a stroke in arrears at 82. Williams charted four birdies on Sunday, while Payne had two, and Bevins posted one.
 
UTSA posted a team score of 4-over par 292 on Sunday to carry a seven-stroke lead over tournament host UTRGV and North Texas, tied for second at 11-over par, 299, through 18 holes. WCU is five strokes back at 304 in fourth place, a stroke ahead of fifth-place Louisiana-Monroe (ULM) at 305.
 
Rounding out the field are Northern Colorado (306) in sixth, followed by Drake (307), Morehead State (313), and Bellarmine (317).
 
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4 – Western Carolina – 304 (+16)
2 – Tyler Jones – 71 (-1)
T8 – Jace Butcher – 74 (+2)
T30 – Ivan Ninkovic – 79 (+7)
T37 – Josh Lendach – 80 (+8)
T51 – Andrew Korytoski – 84 (+12)
T41 – Michael Bevins (ind.) – 81 (+9)
T41 – Connor Williams (ind.) – 81 (+9)
T45 – Dalton Payne (ind.) – 82 (+10)