GREENSBORO, Ga. – ETSU sits atop the leaderboard with a three-stroke lead at the 2023 Southern Conference Men’s Golf Championship following the first round of play at par-72, 7,393-yard Oconee Course at Reynolds Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Georgia. ETSU’s Mats Ege and Matthew Dodd-Berry share the individual lead at 6-under-par 66.
 
ETSU, which is ranked 33th in the latest Golfstat rankings, holds a three-stroke lead over Furman and Chattanooga, concluding the first round with a team score of 14-under 274. The Paladins and the Mocs each finished the day with 11-under 277 performances. Furman’s Harris Barth and Chattanooga’s Paul Conroy are tied for third on the individual leaderboard at 5-under 67.
 
Mercer sits in fourth at 3-under 285, while Western Carolina is fifth, three strokes back of the Bears at even-par 288. Wofford shot 2-over 290 to close round one in sixth, UNCG is in seventh after shooting a 4-over 292 and Samford rounds out the field in eighth with a score of 4-over 294.
 
Mercer’s Tobias Jonsson is fifth on the individual leaderboard a 4-under 68, while Samford’s Brian Boles is one shot behind Jonsson at 3-under 69 to sit in sixth place.
 
Nine players representing five different schools are tied for seventh at 2-under 70. Those players are ETSU’s Archie Davies, Furman’s Will Morlan, Ross Funderburke and Sam Lape, UNCG’s Randall Hudson, Chattanooga’s John Houk, Garrett Engle and Braedon Wear and Western Carolina’s Adam Hooker. Five players are one shot back of that group at 1-under 71, highlighted by a duo of Wofford golfers – Harry Jones and Matthew Larkin – Western Carolina’s Pablo Hernandez, UNCG’s Tommy Lamb and Mercer’s Gustav Sjoberg.
 
Monday’s second round tees off at 9 a.m. Live stats can be found here.