CHUCKEY, Tenn. – Paced by sophomore Calahan Keever's opening round 3-under-par 69, the Anderson University men's golf team is in third place following first-round action at the Tusculum Invitational Monday, which is being hosted on a par-72, 6,882 yard, Graysburg Hills Golf Course layout.
"We are hopeful that (even-par 288) will be good enough to get us in the final pairing tomorrow," said Anderson Director of Golf Danny Neal. "Calahan (Keever) led us today with a very good round of 69. Reece (Coleman) and Parker (MacDonald) supported that and Daniel (Coker) added a 75 to account for our team score. Anthony (Sutton) also played very well as an individual. The wind is supposed to be up tomorrow so we will see how that affects scoring. But hopefully we can play well again and finish the event with some positive momentum."
The two-day, 36-hole event, is being hosted by the Pioneers on the Knobs and Fodder Stack Nines.
Tusculum leads Newberry by two strokes, with the Trojans one shot further back in third place. West Georgia is in fourth place, with Milligan in fifth place and Ohio Dominican in the sixth slot. Christian Brothers is in seventh place, while Tusculum (B) and Shorter are deadlocked in eighth place.
Spartanburg Methodist and Walters State are 10th and 11th, respectively, with Catawba, UVA Wise, Milligan (B), Roane State, Emory & Henry and Mars Hill finishing out the 17-team field.
Tusculum's Liam van Deventer and Newberry's Alex Pillar are tied atop the individual leaderboard after both fired 4-under-par 68s during Monday's opening round. Keever is in a four-way tie for third, just one shot off the pace.
Juniors Reece Coleman and Parker MacDonald each carded even-par-72s and share 12th place, while junior Anthony Sutton is one shot further back and shares the 20th spot. Sophomore Daniel Coker and freshman Simon Wright are tied for 31st place and 74th place, respectively.
The final 18 holes are scheduled to get underway Tuesday morning.
NOTABLES
• The opening-round 288 matches AU's sixth-lowest round of the year.
• Keever's first-round 69 matches his third-lowest round of the year, and marks his fourth round of 69 on the year. He has posted a pair of 68s.
• MacDonald's even-par 72 matches his low-round of the year.
• Sutton's first-round 73 marks his lowest round of the year.
• Coker's opening round 75 is his fourth-lowest round of the year.
3 Anderson 288 To Par
T3 Calahan Keever 69 -3
T12 Reece Coleman 72 E
T12 Parker MacDonald 72 E
T20 Anthony Sutton 73 +1
T31 Daniel Coker 75 +3
T74 Simon Wright 82 +10
1 Team Scores
1 Tusculum 285 -3
2 Newberry 287 -1
3 Anderson 288 E
4 West Georgia 289 +1
5 Milligan 290 +2
6 Ohio Dominican 294 +6
7 Christian Brothers 296 +8
T8 Tusculum (B) 299 +11
T8 Shorter 299 +11
10 SpartanburgMthdst 303 +15
11 Walters State 305 +17
12 Catawba 309 +21
13 UVA Wise 315 +27
14 Milligan (B) 321 +33
15 Roane State 322 +34
16 Emory and Henry 324 +36
17 Mars Hill 328 +40
