Spartanburg, S.C. – Western Carolina men’s golf posted an opening-round team score of 295 on Sunday to sit atop the leaderboard entering Monday at The Carolina Cup, hosted by USC Upstate at the par-72, 6,929-yard Carolina Country Club. Sophomore Jace Butcher fired an even-par opening round 72 to sit tied for second after the first round to lead the Catamounts.
 
Going off the first and 10th tees on Monday, tee times begin at 8:30 a.m. Paired with golfers from Oakland and Winthrop, WCU hits the links on the front nine beginning at 9:30 a.m. Live scoring through Clippd is available online through a link at CatamountSports.com.
 
Paced by Butcher four of WCU’s scoring five are inside the top 20 with two amidst a tie for 16th. Butcher is amidst a four-way tie for the runner-up position as Brennan Sullivan of Oakland leads the field following Sunday’s 2-under par 70.
 
Butcher had an overall even round, carding both four birdies – all on the front nine – and four bogeys, each coming on the back, to reach his even-par score. Opening on the par-4 10th, Butcher bogeyed four of his first seven holes to turn at 4-over par. He birdied on No. 2 before carding three straight birds between the fifth and seventh to reach even.
 
Butcher is just ahead of senior teammate Kiefer Bulau in sixth place just a stroke back as the Canadian worked through a busy back nine to shoot 3-over at the turn. Bulau had four bogeys and one double-bogey but countered the back nine with three birdies adding two on the front.
 
Rounding out WCU’s scoring five are freshman Chase Cline and junior Ivan Ninkovic both tied for 16th place at 3-over par 75, with junior transfer Callum Waugh in a tie for 38th at 6-over par 78.
 
One of four Catamounts playing unattached, sophomore Andrew Korytoski is one of nine golfers tied for seventh place at present with scores of 2-over par 74. Korytoski countered a pair of bogeys with two birdies but had a double-bogey on the par-4 10th. The remaining trio of Catamount individuals include second-year striker Dalton Payne in a tie for 16th after shooting 75, returner Josh Lendach in a tie for 27th at 5-over par 77, and Michael Bevins in a tie for 38th after shooting 78 on Sunday. Payne had three birdies, Bevins and Lendach carded two apiece.
 

Western Carolina (295, +7) leads second-place Oakland (298, +10) by three strokes. Winthrop and Wofford are tied for third with matching scores of 300, with Tennessee Tech rounding out the field in fifth place at 304. The remainder of the field includes Charleston Southern (306) in sixth, and North Carolina A&T and host USC Upstate tied for seventh with matching scores of 307.
 
The third and final round is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 8.
 
Keep track of everything related to Catamount men’s golf and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@wcu_catamounts), and Twitter (@catamounts, @CatamountMGolf).
 
1 – Western Carolina – 295
T2 – Jace Butcher – 72 (E)
6 – Kiefer Bulau – 73 (+1)
T16 – Chase Cline – 75 (+3)
T16 – Ivan Ninkovic – 75 (+3)
T38 – Callum Waugh – 78 (+6)
T7 – Andrew Korytoski (ind.) – 74 (+2)
T16 – Dalton Payne (ind.) – 75 (+3)
T27 – Josh Lendach (ind.) – 77 (+5)
T38 – Michael Bevins (ind.) – 78 (+6)