EATONTON, Ga. - Florida Southern opened up play here Monday in the Bobcat Invitational hosted by Georgia College and State University by shooting a 310 as a team to stand tied for seventh with top-ranked Barry after the first round at the Cuscowilla on Lake Oconee course. The team's were scheduled play two rounds on Monday, but the second round was washed out due to rain.
The 21st-ranked Moccasins, according to the latest head-to-head Golfstat rankings, is within 11 strokes of first round leader Clayton State, who fired a 299 on Monday. 12th-ranked Nova Southeastern and seventh-ranked Armstrong are tied for second after shooting 303's, while eighth-ranked USC-Aiken is fourth with a 304 and sixth-ranked Lynn shot a 307 on Monday to stand fifth.
Leading the way for the Mocs is senior All-American Tim Crouch (Mt. Vernon, Ohio), who fired a five-over 75 in the first round to stand tied for eighth. He is currently just three strokes behind Barry's Adam Svensson, who fired a 2-over 72 to stand in third place on the par 70, 6847-yard Cuscowilla course.
Clayton State sits atop the leaderboards as they carded a 299 in the opening round. 11 schools are within 14 shots of Clayton State, though, as Columbus State is sitting ninth after carding a 311 and Lander and Valdosta State are tied for 10th after shooting 313's on Monday.
Along with sitting atop the team leaderboard, Clayton State's Fredrik Lindblom is the clubhouse leader among individuals as he carded a one-under 69 in the first round to stand two strokes in front of Armstrong's Shad Tuten, who shot a one-over 71 to stand second and Svensson is third with a two-over 72.
In addition to Crouch, sophomore Austin Schultz (Lakeland, Fla.) shot a six-over 76 to stand tied for 14th, while senior Shane Convery (Ponta Vedra, Fla.) shot a 77 to stand tied for 22nd place. Freshman Jason Huntington (Lakeland, Fla.) was the final counter for the Mocs on Monday as he shot an 82.
The final competitor for the Mocs was redshirt sophomore Alex Carpenter (Westerville, Ohio) fired 42's on both the front and back nine to finish with an 84, which puts him tied for 78th place.
FSC will conclude play in the rain-shortened event on Tuesday as they will being the final round at 8:30 a.m. The Mocs will play in a group with Barry and Columbus State and they will tee-off from the No. 1 tee.
