SAUCIER, Miss. – With a trio of golfers in the top ten, Georgia State opened the Sun Belt Men's Golf Championship with an even par 288 on Monday afternoon at the Grand Bear Golf Course. The Panthers, ranked No. 44 in the nation, are just two strokes off the lead with 36 holes to play.

^{Junior Damon Stephenson opened play with a 2-under 70 and is tied for fourth just two strokes off the lead with 36 holes to play.}

^{Georgia State enters play as one of the hottest teams in the country, having won two straight tournaments for the first time in program history.}

^{“Overall, I am pleased with the way we played today,” head coach Joe Inman said. “We made a few mistakes that kept us from leading, but I think the guys are getting more comfortable with the course and that is what is important.}

^{“Damon got off to a great start today and put together a really solid round. Tyler struggled early but made up for it with a great back nine. I expect all five guys to put together really great rounds on Tuesday and we will see where we stand at the end of the day.”}

^{Stephenson opened with a pair of birdies and made three more on the back nine en route to the first round 70.}

^{Sophomore Jonathan “J.J.” Grey stands tied for sixth following a first-round 1-under 71. Grey made a pair of birdies on the first day. He earned Sun Belt Freshman of the Year and first team all-conference honors last year. He has eight top-25 finishes in 11 tournaments this year.}

^{Senior Tyler Gruca shot an even par 72, shooting an impressive 33 on the back nine. After a rough start with four bogeys on the opening nine, Gruca made five birdies on the back nine, including three over the last four holes.}

^{Junior Davin White is tied for 19th following a 3-over 75. His streak of six straight rounds of par or better in the last two events came to an end. He earned All-Sun Belt Second Team honors last year.}

^{Freshman Nathan Mallonee rounded out the line-up with an opening round 4-over 76 to stand in a tie for 23rd. After a 40 on the opening nine, Mallonee rebounded nicely to shoot 36 on the back nine.}

^{UT Arlington leads the 10-team field following an opening round 2-under 286. Georgia State is second with South Alabama in third at 5-over. UL Lafayette is fourth at 11-over with UL Monroe in fifth at 13-over.}

^{South Alabama's Tyler Klava and Texas State's Stuart Smallwood are tied for the lead at 4-under par. Arkansas State's Easton Key is third at 3-under with Stephenson and UT Arlington's Joss Gosling tied for fourth at 2-under.}

^{During the last 16 years, the Panthers have won six conference championships and had seven runner-up finishes, including one in each of the last two years. Last season, the Panthers led North Texas entering the final round of play and held the lead with just a few holes to play before the Mean Green finished strong on the final holes.}

^{Live scoring of the entire 54-hole tournament will be available at Golfstat.com and on the Golfstat mobile app.}

^{Following the event, Georgia State will return to the course for NCAA Regional play, May 15-17, at one of six locations throughout the country. The top five teams at each regional site will advance to the NCAA Championship, May 23-28, in Hutchinson, Kan.}