March 29, 2009

AWENDAW, S.C. – South Carolina’s men’s golf team played a solid round in windy conditions at the par-71 Bulls Bay Golf Club, shooting a 5-over 291 to tie for fifth place through one round at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate. Junior George Bryan IV continued his strong play, firing a 2-under 69 to stand tied for third individually through 18 holes.

Bryan got off to a fast start with a birdie at the par-3 3rd hole to get to 1-under. He would stay there with six straight pars to go out in 35 before another birdie at the 10th got him to 2-under. He would bogey the par-3 12th before carding a big birdie at the 17th to get back to 2-under. Bryan has now fired two straight rounds in the 60s, including his 4-under 68 to close out last week’s Schenkel E-Z-Go Invitational.

Three other Gamecocks fired identical rounds of 74 and stand at 3-over after one round. Freshmen Sam Braver and Wesley Bryan and senior Mark Silvers are all tied for 24th through their first 18 holes. Braver had an up-and-down round that started out with a birdie at the first, but saw a double-bogey and a pair of bogeys along with another bogey to make the turn at 2-over. He then birdied the 10th before bogies at the 14th and 17th. Wesley Bryan had a rough front nine, making the turn at three-over, but birdied the 10th and 18th to sandwich a double-bogey at the 17th to finish the back nine at level par. And Silvers went 38-36 with one birdie on each side to finish at 3-over for the day.

Augusta State leads the way through one round of play at 2-over after a 286 in Sunday’s first round. Virginia is two strokes back at 4-over, and NC State and LSU are tied for third at 5-over, two shots ahead of the Gamecocks and UCF.

The Jaguars’ Janne Kaske fired a 4-under 67 to hold the individual lead heading into Monday’s second round. LSU’s John Peterson is a stroke back at 3-under after a 68, and George Bryan is tied with Virginia’s Will Collins and Wake Forest’s Travis Wadkins at 2-under.

South Carolina will begin its second round at 9:50 Monday morning on the first tee, paired with UCF and LSU. The Gamecocks’ tee times run from 9:50 to 10:30, and live results will be available through golfstat.com.

SOUTH CAROLINA RESULTST3. George Bryan IV - 69 (-2)T24. Sam Braver - 74 (+3)T24. Wesley Bryan - 74 (+3)T24. Mark Silvers III - 74 (+3)T53. Patrick Rada - 77 (+6)
TEAM STANDINGS1. Augusta State (+2)2. Virginia (+4)T3. NC State (+5)T3. LSU (+5)T5. South Carolina (+7)T5. UCF (+7)7. Chattanooga (+8)8. Wake Forest (+9)9. Clemson (+10)10. North Carolina (+15)11. Kentucky (+18)12. Georgia State (+19)13. Maryland (+20)T14. USC-Aiken (+23)T14. Coll. of Charleston (+23)