Senior Joel Sjoholm tied for seventh with a three-under par 69 to pace the Panthers, as the Georgia State University men's golf team tied for third by matching the team's best round of the year with a 284 (-4) in the first round of the Linger Longer Invitational at Reynolds Plantation on Friday in Greensboro, Ga.

With three Panthers in the top-20 overall, 70th-ranked Georgia State matched is best round of the year with a four-under par 284 to end day one tied with the nation's top-ranked team by GolfWeek, the University of Georgia. Georgia State sits seven strokes off the lead set by 36th-ranked Mississippi (277) and six strokes behind 17th-ranked Chattanooga (278).

“We got off to a great start,” said Georgia State head coach Matt Clark. “At one time, we were 10-under par as a team and for us to be able to jump out there was real exciting. I've had a lot of faith in this team all year long and there has been some learning, but today they played pretty good to start. We almost had an exceptional round, but we left a few shots out there and had a solid round.”

Individually, Sjoholm carded six birdies on a rainy par-72, 6985-yard Plantation Course to finish his round in a tie for seventh.

“Joel [Sjoholm] played a good round today in a great field,” said Clark. “He can play even better and he is in a position to move towards the top tomorrow.”

In addition to Sjoholm's effort, sophomore Tom Sherreard and freshman Alex Castro tied for 16th with first-round totals of 71 (-1). Sherreard, the 117th-ranked player nationally, carded four birdies in his first round, while Castro one-under par round matches his best one-round score as a Panther.

“Alex [Castro] got off to an amazing start,” commented Clark on Castro's four-birdie start to his round.

Casto posted five birdies in his round.

Rounding out State's lineup were junior Tim Freund, who tied for 27th with a one-over par 73, and sophomore Maurice Jordan, who tied for 49th at four-over par with a 76. Freshman Alan Fowler also tied for 49th with a 76 (+4) competing as an individual.

Among the 14-team field that features seven teams from the top-50 nationally and 12 from the top 100, Georgia State also leads in-state foes Kennesaw State and Mercer, who is playing host at the Linger Longer.

The Panthers finished second in last year's event, led by Sherreard and Sjoholm, who finished 11th and 17th respectively a year ago.

Second-round action of the Linger Longer Invitational will begin at 9 a.m, on Saturday, with Freund teeing off first for State at 10:40 a.m.

Updates will be posted to GeorgiaStateSports.com following each round and live scoring can be found at GolfStat.com.


Georgia State Individual Scores
T7th ? SR. Joel Sjoholm ? 69, -3
T16th ? SO. Tom Sherreard ? 71, -1
T16th ? FR. Alex Castro ? 71, -1
T27th ? JR. Tim Freund ? 73, +1
T49th ? SO. Maurice Jordan ? 76, +4
T49th ? FR. Alan Fowler (Ind.) ? 76, +4

Team Scores