ATLANTA -Georgia State shot an opening round 4-over 292 to stand in a tie for sixth on Friday at the 43rd annual Furman Intercollegiate. In one of the largest fields of the year, four Panthers stand among the top 30 in the individual standings on the par-72, 6,994-yard Furman University Golf Club.
Senior Clemens Dvorak, sophomore Tyler Gruca and freshmen Damon Stephenson and Davin White each shot opening round 1-over 73's to stand tied for 30th. The Panthers are just six strokes off the lead held by Troy.
"I am pleased with the way we started today," commented head coach Joe Inman. We made a lot of birdies and if we can eliminate a few of the bogeys on Saturday and Sunday, we are going to be right at the top of the leaderboard at the end."
The 21-team field includes 126 golfers playing 54-holes over three days in a similar format to the NCAA Regionals.
Dvorak's round featured five birdies on the front nine as the senior shot an opening nine 33. Freshman Davin White was nearly as impressive, making three birdies and an eagle, shooting an opening nine 35 before moving to the more difficult back nine.
Gruca and Stephenson played the most balanced rounds. Gruca made two birdies and three bogeys, while Stephenson made one birdie, but just two bogeys.
Sophomore Grant Cagle rounded out the Panthers line-up with an opening round 75 to stand in a tie for 59th.
Redshirt-senior Jared Cagle stands tied for 42nd after an opening round 2-over 74. Cagle is one of three Panthers competing as an individual this week. Sophomore Victor Lavin shot 78 and is tied for 100th, while Ross Mclister shot an opening round 79 to finish tied for 110th.
Troy leads the field by two strokes after shooting the only round under par, a 2-under 286. Wofford and Francis Marion stand in second at even par, while East Tennessee State stands at 1-over and alone in fourth. No. 14 Clemson stands in fourth at 2-over, followed by the Panthers and Charleston Southern. Georgia State is ahead of the likes of No. 43 Purdue, No. 21 Georgia, Virginia Tech and Michigan.
Georgia's Sepp Straka, starting at No. 10 and playing as an individual, shot 32 on the back nine en route to a 66 and two-stroke lead over Coastal Carolina's Sebastian Soderberg (-4) and Michigan's Matt Thompson (-4) who each opened tournament play with a 4-under 68. Furman's Austin Reeves (-3), who claimed the 2009 Furman Intercollegiate title and is the reigning South Carolina Amateur champion, holds a share of fourth place following a round of 69 on Friday.
Since the late 1970s, the course has been the site of two outstanding college tournaments, the Furman Intercollegiate and the Lady Paladin Invitational. In addition, the course hosts a number of local and state tournaments.
Round two of the 54-hole tournament tees off on Saturday morning at 8 a.m. The Panthers will tee off in the morning wave at 8 a.m. on the tenth tee with Wofford and Troy.
Fans can log on to Golfstat.com to follow live scoring during all three rounds.
Following this weekend the Panthers will return to the course at the Insperity/Augusta State Invitational, March 31-April 1.
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