Gamecocks Tied for the Lead at Valspar Collegiate Invitational

PALM CITY, Fla. – South Carolina shot a 6-under, 278 and is tied for the lead with Florida State and No. 6 Wake Forest after 18 holes of the Valspar Collegiate Invitational. The Gamecocks senior trio of Ryan Stachler (T-6^th), Will Miles (T-10^th) and Scott Stevens (T-17^th) are all in the top-20 after under par rounds on Sunday afternoon at Floridian National Golf Club.
 
“I thought we really showed some fight today after a bit of a rough start,” said head coach Bill McDonald. “The guys finished strong and played pretty well in some breezy and tricky conditions. We have bad weather moving in Tuesday so we’re going to try and play 36 holes tomorrow and complete the tournament. It’ll be a long day but we’re looking forward to the challenge.”
 
Stachler led the way with an opening round 67 (-4).  He was bogey free on the front nine with a birdie and an eagle (32, -3) and had just one bogey with two birdies on the back nine (35, -1). The Alpharetta, Ga., native, is fresh off a career-best T-2^nd finish in helping the team win the 2019 Cleveland Golf Palmetto Intercollegiate earlier this week.
 
Miles, who tallied his first career win at Palmetto Golf Club, is T-11^th after an opening round 68 (-3). Like Stachler, he was also bogey free on the front nine. He finished the day with three birdies and an eagle.  Miles and Stachler were two of eight players in the 84-man field with eagles in the opening round.
 
Stevens fired a 1-under 70 after a tough go of it in the beginning. He began the day with a triple bogey on the par-5 fifth hole. Stevens answered with a pair of birdies but then bogeyed the next two holes to get back to 3-over. The Chattanooga, Tenn., native went bogey free his final 13 hoels with four birdies to get into the clubhouse with a red number. His team-high six birdies in round one are T-5^th in the field.
 
Junior Caleb Proveaux was the final counting scoring with a 73 (+2) as he sits T-41^st. Fellow junior Jamie Wilson is T-75^th at 8-over after shooting 79. The Awendaw, S.C., native was 3-over with three holes to go but was hurt by an eight on the par-3 fourth.
 
Wilson will lead things off at 9 a.m. ET on hole one as the Gamecocks tee off with the leaders in the morning. Stachler will be the final player off for Carolina his tee time at 9:32 a.m. ET. With expected inclement weather on Tuesday, the teams will attempt to play 36 holes and finish the tournament tomorrow.
 
Defending NCAA Champion Oklahoma State is giving chase at 5-under with No. 13 Auburn at 3-under giving chase as well. The Gamecocks were one of seven teams in the loaded field to shoot par or better in today’s opening round. The Cowboys’ Matthew Wolf, the top-ranked player in the country, shot 6-under (65) today and leads by one. Stachler, Stevens and Miles were three of just 22 players to post red numbers in the first round today.
 
R1 TEAM SCOREBOARD – 2019 VALSPAR COLLEGIATE INVITATIONAL
T-1. South Carolina – 278 (-6)
T-1. Florida State – 278 (-6)
T-1. Wake Forest – 278 (-6)
4. Oklahoma State – 279 (-5)
5. Auburn – 281 (-3)
T-6. Texas A&M – 284 (E)
T-6. Baylor – 284 (E)
T-8. Vanderbilt – 285 (+1)
T-8. Georgia Tech – 285 (+1)
10. Houston – 288 (+4)
11. LSU – 289 (+5)
12. Duke – 290 (+6)
13. Arkansas – 291 (+7)
14. Texas – 293 (+9)
15. South Florida – 297 (+13)
 
R1 GAMECOCK LEADERBOARD – 2019 VALSPAR
T-6. Ryan Stachler – 67 (-4)
T-11. Will Miles – 68 (-3)
T-17. Scott Stevens – 70 (-1)
T-40. Caleb Proveaux – 73 (+2)
T-74. Jamie Wilson – 79 (+8)
 
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