Furman ninth at Darius Rucker Intercollegiate

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – Sophomore Taylor Totland (E) a fired an even-par 71 to tie for sixth place to lead the 20th-ranked Furman women’s golf team in the opening day of the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate at the par-71, 6,221-yard Long Cove Club.

Totland, a native of Tinton Falls, N.J, parred the first nine holes then birdied No. 15 and the par-3 No. 17 to finish the day three strokes behind leader Gabriella Then (-2) of Southern California, who shot a 69 to open the tournament.

Junior Valentina Romero (+3) enters Saturday’s second round tied for 22nd place after birdieing No. 5 and No. 10 to card a 74 in the opening round, while freshman Reona Hirai (+5) birdied No. 18 to tie for 48th with a first-round 76. Paladin rookies Alice Chen (+8) and Jacqueline Bendrick (+8) are tied for 66th after each scored a 79 in Friday’s round. Chen birdied No. 1 and No. 6, while Bendrick scored birdies on the par-3 No. 8 and No. 15.

No. 3 Southern California (+1) leads No. 8 LSU (+7) by six strokes after carding an opening-round 285.  No. 4 Arkansas (+9), No. 6 Duke (+9) and North Carolina (+9) are tied for third, while No. 29 Auburn (+14) and No. 19 Arizona State (+14) are tied for sixth. No. 2 South Carolina (+15) is eighth, followed by the Paladins (+16), who are in ninth place in the 17-team field after one day of competition.

Second-round play of the 54-hole tournament, which features 11 of the last 14 national champions and 12 teams ranked among the top 20 in the latest Golfstat rankings, begins Saturday at 8:30 a.m.  The tournament will conclude on Sunday.

The Paladins tee off of No. 1 at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday.