April 17, 2011

FLORENCE, S.C. - The Samford University men's golf team turned in its best round of the 2011 spring season Sunday as the Bulldogs carded an 18-hole score of 287 on the opening day of competition at the Southern Conference Championship being held at the pristine Country Club of South Carolina.

By turning in its best round since a 272 at the Austin Peay Invitational on Oct. 18, Samford finished Sunday's opening round tied for first place in the 11-team event with 33rd-ranked Chattanooga and Georgia Southern.

The three leaders each fired a 1-under-par 287 in the opening round, placing a three-stroke cushion between themselves and fourth-place College of Charleston (290).

Davidson freshman Richard Fountain and Georgia Southern junior Lewis Gruber were the low individuals on the day, carding identical 4-under-par 68s. Each recorded five birdies on the day, trailing only Samford's Bill Nabors who led the field with six. The Bulldogs' Nabors finished the day tied for 12th place with an even-par 72.

Samford's Casey O'Toole, who teed off on hole 10, fired a 33 on the front nine en route to an opening round 69 (-3), which places him one stroke behind the leaders in third. The Bulldogs' Martin Bunt also turned in a solid first round Sunday as he tallied an even-par 72, which was good for 12th place in the individual standings.

Sophomores Drew Aimone and Gabe Hyde rounded out the Bulldogs' scoring with rounds of 74 and 75, respectively.

Chattanooga was led by junior Stephan Jaeger's 70 (-2) and will begin the second round in the final pairing along with the Eagles and Bulldogs.

Davidson sits in fifth place after shooting 293 and is closely followed by UNC Greensboro (295) and Wofford (295). Rounding out the team leaderboard was Western Carolina (296), Elon (297), Furman (299) and Appalachian State (302).

The winner of the SoCon Championship will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Regional while the individual medalist will also earn an automatic regional qualification.

The tournament will resume at 8 a.m. (CDT) on Monday and fans can follow the action at www.golfstatresults.com. The 54-hole championship will conclude Tuesday.

Round One Results - SoCon Championship