LEXINGTON, Ky. – The McKendree University men's golf team continued its spring season schedule here Saturday by shooting a 318 for 18 holes as a team to sit in a 11th place out of 19 teams after the first round of the Saginaw Valley State University Spring Invitational held at the Kearney Hill Golf Links.
The Bearcats, who are fourth in the most recent NCAA Division II Midwest Regional rankings and earned a vote in the most recent Golfweek/Bushnell Division II Coaches Poll, are two shots in front 12th place Northern Michigan, who shot a 320 and are four shots behind 10th place Ferris State, who shot a 314 in the opening round.
Findlay sits atop the leaderboard as they shot a 295 as a team after the first round of play, while Southern Indiana is second with a 298 and Tiffin University is third with a 305.
Leading the way for the Bearcats in the opening round was junior
Rasmus Nilsson (Stockholm, Sweden/Danderyds Gymnasium), who shot a 2-over par 74 to sit in a six-way tie for fourth place. Nilsson, who was named this week's Great Lakes Valley Conference Men's Golfer of the Week, is playing the SVSU Invitational as an individual and did not factor into the Bearcats' team score.
Purdue Northwest's Alex Bishop sits atop the individual leaderboard as he shot a 1-under par 71 to lead by one shot over Findlay's Nathan Osborn, who shot an even-par 72 in the first round. Bishop and Osborn are the only two golfers that have shot par or better on the 7,023-yard Kearney Hill Golf Links course.
The top performer for the Bearcats team was freshman
Thomas Tollefsen (Tongsberg, Norway/Wang Toppidrett Tonsberg), who shot a 77 in the opening round to sit in a tie for 30th place overall.
In addition to Tollefsen, graduate student
Will Postlethwaite (Carlisle, United Kingdom/William Howard School) and senior
Alex Gorman (Mascoutah, Ill./Mascoutah) each shot an opening round 80 to sit in a tie for 58th place.
Freshman
Fabian Wennerlof (Onsala, Sweden/Katrinelundgymnasiet) was the fourth Bearcat counter as he shot an opening round 81 to sit in a tie for 67th place overall.
McKendree's fifth and final golfer on Saturday was junior
Phasin Vichitcharoenpaisarn (Bangkok, Thailand/The American School of Bangkok) as he shot an 84 in the first round to sit tied for 98th place overall.
The Bearcats and the 19 other teams conclude the 36-hole event with another 18 holes on Sunday, March 20 beginning with a shotgun start 9:30 a.m. ET. The Bearcats are paired with Kentucky Wesleyan, Ferris State and Northern Michigan in the final round.
