Oct. 25, 2009

WINDERMERE, Fla. – South Carolina finds itself in the middle of the pack amidst an elite field at Isleworth Golf & Country Club after an opening round of 302 (+14) to sit in eighth place at the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational on Sunday. Sophomore Wesley Bryan led the way for the Gamecocks with a 71 (-1), his best round of the season thus far.

Bryan had his first round of the collegiate season under par to tie for ninth place after 18 holes of play. After a double-bogey to begin his round, he rolled off three birdies over the next five holes to get to 1-under. Another birdie at the 10th got him to 2-under, but he would make bogeys on 13 and 18, along with a birdie at the 17th, to finish at 1-under for the day. It was a marked improvement over scores last year – no Carolina player broke par in the 2008 Isleworth event.

George Bryan IV is tied for 16th place after a round of 74 (+2). He had one bogey and one birdie on the front nine to make the turn at even par, but struggled down the stretch with three bogeys and a birdie in his last six holes. Even at that, the senior from Chapin still showed improvement over his performance last year at the same event where he shot 75 in all three rounds.

Fellow senior Patrick Rada shot 78 (+6) and redshirt freshman Clint Tolleson had a 79 (+7). Senior Paul Woodbury rounded out the Carolina lineup with an 80 (+8).

Fifth-ranked Stanford leads the team competition after a round of 289 (+1). TCU is second at 290 (+2), followed by top-ranked Oklahoma State at 291 (+3).

Three players are tied atop the individual leaderboard. Florida’s Tim McKenney, Oklahoma State’s Peter Uihlein and Stanford’s Steve Ziegler all fired matching rounds of 68 (-4) to hold a one-shot lead over another threesome at 3-under.

The Gamecocks will be paired with Georgia and Arizona State in the first pairings of the second round, which gets underway at 8 a.m. Monday. Live scoring is available through golfstat.com, and complete tournament coverage can be found at isleworthcollegiate.com.

SOUTH CAROLINA RESULTS
T9. Wesley Bryan – 71 (-1)
T16. George Bryan IV – 74 (+2)
T44. Patrick Rada – 78 (+6)
T47. Clint Tolleson – 79 (+7)
T57. Paul Woodbury – 80 (+8)