Led by junior Tom Sherreard's opening round 2-under par 70, the Georgia State men's golf team opened the Schenkel E-Z-Go Invitational with a 7-over par, 294 to stand in a tie for eighth place after 18 holes. Sherreard is tied for fifth, just one stroke off the lead.
Sherreard's round included five birdies, including going 3-under on the par fives.
“This is the type of course where you think you can go low,” commented Sherreard on Forest Heights length of under 7000 yards. “With the greens being a little tricky and some tight pin placements, it feels good to go under par and help the team out today.”
Georgia State is currently just eight strokes off the lead as a majority of the field (15 of 18 teams) are within ten strokes of the top spot.
Sophomore Alan Fowler finished with a 2-over, 74, capped by a 35-foot birdie on his 17th hole (Fowler started on the back nine) and is tied for 36th.
Sophomore Tobias Rosendahl is currently tied for 45th after shooting a 3-over par, 75.
With a strong birdie-birdie finish, freshman Allen John jumped into a tie for 60th after shooting 76. He is tied with teammate Brent Paul, who was able to make some birdies early, but watched a couple of putts just lip out on his second nine.
#15 Tennessee holds the team lead at 1-under par with 36 holes remaining. North Florida stands in second at 2-over, while the host, Georgia Southern and #16 South Carolina are tied at 3-over.
The Panthers are currently ahead of four teams in the top 50 and tied with #14 North Carolina State.
There is a four-way tie atop the individual leaderboard. Auburn's Glenn Northcutt, Tennessee's Robin Wingardh, LSU's Sang Yi and Augusta State's Taylor Floyd are tied at 3-under par.
The second round of the 2009 Schenkel E-Z-Go Invitational will begin at 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning with Georgia State going off of hole #1 with North Carolina and North Florida.
The Panthers will be back in action next week as they travel to Awendaw, South Carolina for the Hootie at Bulls Bay. The event benefits the Hootie and the Blowfish Foundation.
