Hopke leads, Furman second at Hummingbird Intercollegiate
SAPPHIRE, N.C. – Furman junior Wehman Hopke (-4) fired an opening-round 67 to tie for the lead and push the Paladin men's golf team into second place Friday at the Hummingbird Intercollegiate at the par-71, 6,767-yard Country Club of Sapphire Valley.
Hopke eagled the par-5 No. 14 and recorded five birdies to finish the round 4-under-par and tie for the individual lead with Logan Lagodich (-4) of Marshall. The duo is two strokes ahead of six players who are tied for third after carding 69s in the opening round.
No. 25 Clemson (-6) leads the field, just one stroke ahead of the Paladins (-5), who tied the sixth-best round in Furman golf history with an opening-round 279 on Friday. Marshall (E) is in third, followed by Stritch (+7) in fourth and Wingate (+8) in fifth.
Paladin juniors Preston Cole (-1) and Preston Heyward (-1) are tied for ninth at the completion of the first round. Cole birdied a team-high seven holes on Friday, while Heyward added five birdies, as the Furman duo each carded a 1-under 70.
Sophomore Bryce Howell (+1) notched five birdies, including three straight birdies on Nos. 5, 6, and 7, to score a 1-over 72 and tie for 17th entering Sunday's final round, and senior Michael Borton (+8) birdied No. 2 and No. 14 to tie for 62nd. Freshman Hunter Nichols (+1), who is playing as an individual, is tied for 17th after recording a 72 with four birdies in Friday's round.
Following an off day on Saturday due to predicted inclement weather in western North Carolina, Furman will tee off of No. 1 beginning at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday in the tournament's final round.
Western Carolina seventh at Hummingbird Intercollegiate
SAPPHIRE, N.C. – Clemson landed all five members of its scoring five inside the individual top 10, each with rounds under par as the Tigers shot 6-under-par 278 to lead the 2014 Hummingbird Intercollegiate after the first round at the par-71, 6,767-yard Country Club of Sapphire Valley. Tournament host Western Carolina is seventh overall with 18 holes remaining in the event.
With the forecasted threat of inclement wintry weather on Saturday, the second and final round has been moved to Sunday, Nov. 2. In anticipation of a frost delay, the official start time has also been bumped by an hour to 10:30 a.m.
Paired with golfers from fellow Southern Conference foes Samford and Wofford, as well as Wingate, WCU’s scoring five will tee off on the front nine between 10:30 a.m. and 11:18 a.m. on Sunday. The four Catamount individuals will go from the back nine tees between approximately 11:47 a.m. and 12:11 p.m.
Clemson leads its Palmetto State rival, Furman, by a single stroke as the Paladins sit in the runner-up spot with a first-round 279. The Paladins recorded 24 birdies as a team to lead the field. Marshall is third after an even-par team round of 284, followed by Cardinal Stritch (291) and Wingate (292) to round out the top five.
Wofford in sixth leads WCU by two strokes, 293-to-295, followed by Samford and Brevard tied for eighth at 298. Rounding out the field is Guilford (10th, 302), Colgate (11th, 308) and Bucknell (12th, 318).
For the Catamounts, event defending individual medalist senior J.T. Poston led the way with a 2-under-par round of 69 on Friday. The Hickory, N.C., native finished with four birdies against a pair of bogeys to sit just two strokes off the tournament lead, tied with five others for sixth place.
Freshman Bright Julamool, making his first competitive appearance at the Country Club of Sapphire Valley, shot 3-over-par 74 to sit 28th entering the final round. The Bangkok, Thailand, product had three birdies including two on the front nine against four bogeys and a double-bogey. Senior Matthew Turner and freshman Jackson Bishop are tied for 40th overall after matching rounds of 5-over-par 76, with junior Tyler Lail rounding out the Catamount side in a tie for 62nd overall with a 79.
Four WCU golfers are playing unattached in the field, with junior Taylor Durand tied for the lead among all individuals, in contention after an opening-round 2-under-par 69 to sit tied for third place. Durand, who also pitches for the Catamount baseball team, matched Poston with four birdies and two pars, charting 12 pars on Friday.
Sophomore Nont Panayanggool is tied for 51st overall after shooting 6-over-par 77, with classmate Evan Smith tied for 59th at 78. Senior Braydon Obremski shot 81 over the first 18 holes to sit 70th overall.
Samford tied for eighth at Hummingbird Intercollegiate
SAPPHIRE, N.C. – Samford men’s golfer Chris Clouser turned in his best round of the 2014 fall season Friday as the Bulldogs’ native of Huntsville, Ala., carded a brilliant 2-under-par 69 on the opening day of play at the Hummingbird Intercollegiate hosted by Western Carolina University at the par-71, 6,767-yard Country Club of Sapphire Valley.
Clouser’s team-best performance moved him into a six-way tie for third place in the individual standings. The field for the two-day, three-round tournament consists of 12 teams and 75 competitors. Clouser only trails the first-place tandem of Marshall’s Logan Lagodich and Furman’s Wehman Hopkey by two strokes.
Prior to Friday’s performance, Clouser’s best outing this season was a 2-over-par 73 at the 2014 Joe Feaganes Marshall Invitational.
As a team, Samford sits in eighth place with a first-round tally of 298. Temperatures dropped 15 degrees throughout play Friday as both the winds and precipitation played a major role in the scoring. The Bulldogs battled through the wintry conditions and moved to within just seven strokes out of fourth place in the team standings.
Clemson leads the tournament with a first-round tally of 278, while Furman trails by a single stroke and Marshall rounds out the top three with an 18-hole mark of 284.
Initially, the 2014 Hummingbird Intercollegiate was scheduled to be played Saturday and Sunday. Instead, the unfavorable weather in the area forced the tournament to begin Friday and will resume Sunday.
Competing in this year’s event for the Bulldogs are Clouser, Robert Adams, Austin Jackson, Ivan Truss and Garrett Moores.
Last season, Samford tallied a seventh-place finish at the Hummingbird Intercollegiate. The Bulldogs finished just five strokes behind both Western Carolina and Gardner-Webb, and six strokes behind fourth-place Tennessee Tech.