Feb. 20, 2005

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida – The University of South Carolina men’s golf team, the 2004 defending champion, is in first place after the first round at the Mercedes Benz Collegiate Championship at the Sawgrass Country Club today. The three round tournament runs through Tuesday, Feb. 22.

Live results can be found at golfstat.com. South Carolina will tee off at 9:30 am with LSU and Tennessee.

The Gamecock golf team shot 286 in first round of golf – shooting -2.

To round out the top five, LSU is second at 288 (E), Tennessee is third at 291 (+3) and Florida and UCLA are tied at 292 (+4).

As for South Carolina coach Puggy Blackmon, he is pleased with his team’s start, but said there is still a long way to go before his team brings home another Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship.

“There are still two days left,” Blackmon said. “We played solid today. We had a game plan going into the tournament. We went over it last night and everybody stuck with it today.”

Svensson helped set the tone as the second man out for the Gamecocks, battling through illness and a double bogey on the second hole to finish the day tied for the individual lead.

“I had a good round today,” Svensson said. “I’m striking it well. I had some trouble on No. 2, it’s a hard hole. Everybody is going to have trouble on it.”

USC’s highest finisher on the day is Robert Svensson who is tied for first after shooting 70 (-2). He is tied with four other players for first.

Three Gamecocks are tied for 13th at 72 (even): Mark Anderson, Eirik Johansen and Wes Streib. Jake Thompson is tied for 73rd at 79 (+7).

The 6,985 yard par 72 course is located in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

Place TEAM SCORES

T1 USC 286 -2

USC Individual Results

FINISH NAME SCORES

T1 Svensson 70 -2

T13 Anderson 72 E

T13 Johansen 72 E

T13 Streib 72 E

T73 Thompson 79 +7