Davidson third at Firestone Invitational

AKRON, Ohio – Richard Fountain and Ralph Blasey each carded opening rounds of 1-under 71 to lead the Davidson men’s golf team, who sits third after Monday’s opening day of the Firestone Invitational.

The 36-hole event is being played on the Par 72, 7,125-yard Firestone Country Club layout.

Due to a fog delay Monday morning, the event has been shortened from its originally scheduled 54 holes.

As a team, the Wildcats fired a season-low 1-over 289 and will enter Tuesday’s final round just seven strokes off the pace.

Blasey finished his first round of the fall with five birdies, while Fountain had two birdies and an eagle on his opening nine. Blasey and Fountain are currently tied for 10th out of 90 competitors.

Just three strokes separate Samuel Echikson (73 / T-21st), John Skeadas III (74 / T-32nd) and Todd Eckstein (76 / T-43rd).

Ball State holds the top spot on the team leaderboard at 6-under, three strokes clear of nationally ranked (Div. II) USC Aiken, which opened with a 285 (-3).

Tyler Merkel (Ball State) and Matt Atkins (USC Aiken) lead the individual standings following 4-under 68s.

The second and final round will begin Tuesday morning.

O’Toole third, Samford eighth at Firestone Invitational

AKRON, Ohio – Samford’s Casey O’Toole carded a brilliant 3-under-par 69 on Monday to finish tied for third place on the opening day of competition at the 2012 Firestone Invitational being hosted by Akron University at the par-72, 7,125-yard North Course of the Firestone Country Club.

O’Toole, the Bulldogs’ senior native of Oneonta, Ala., sits only one stroke behind co-leaders Tyler Merkel of Akron and Matt Atkins from USC Aiken. Monday’s scheduled 36 holes of play were limited to a single round due to an earlier ice storm that rolled through Ohio.

As a team, Samford turned in a round-one total of 296 on Monday. The Bulldogs’ 18-hole score was good enough to finish the day tied for eighth place in the talent-laden field along with Kansas State, Saint Mary’s and Maryland.

Individually, Samford was paced by O’Toole’s first-round 69 and was also propelled by Bill Nabors’ 74 and Chris Clouser’s 75. The Bulldogs also received 18-hole scores of 78 from Zach Hughes and 79 from Drew Aimone.

The final round of play at the 2012 Firestone Invitational will begin Tuesday at 9:30 a.m.