GREENVILLE, S.C. — Dartmouth sophomore James Turner, returning from an injury to play in his first tournament of the school year, fired a 2-under 69 to finish the first round tied with three others atop the leaderboard at the Furman Invitational. Riding Turner’s strong play, the Big Green completed the day seventh in the 21-team field with an 8-over 292 on the par-71, 6,984-yard Furman University Golf Course.
Virginia Tech grabbed the lead by shooting a 279 (-3), one stroke ahead of Coastal Carolina and two ahead of Davidson. Host Furman is tied for fourth with Yale at 5-over par with Minnesota two strokes ahead of the Big Green in sixth.
Dartmouth, starting on the 10th hole, was firing on all cylinders to start the day, sinking 11 birdies while making it to the turn at 1-under as a team. Turner birdied four of his first six holes before bogeying the 18th to finish his first nine at 3-under. He then added a birdie on the par-4 seventh hole to go with a pair of bogeys to complete his round.
But he wasn’t the only Turner finding success early in the round as his younger brother, Mark, reached the turn at even par with a pair of birdies and bogeys then birdied his 10th hole. But he found trouble on a par-3 hole and took a triple bogey before settling for a 6-over 77 on the day, tying him for 77th in the 120-player field.
Senior John Lazor sank three birdies during his round and wrapped up his round in a tie for 26th by carding a 73 (+2). While sophomore Sam Ohno matched his teammate’s 73, he did so with 16 pars — the most by any golfer in the tournament — and a pair of bogeys.
Meanwhile, sophomore Jason Liu had three birdies among his first seven holes, but he dropped back in the field with the younger Turner to 6-over par by the end of the round. And freshman Charles Petrie, playing as an individual, had three birdies of his own before concluding his round with a 7-over 78 in a tie for 83rd.
James Turner will enter the second round tied with Davidson’s Alex Ross, who led all player with seven birdies, and two golfers from Coastal Carolina — Zack Taylor and Wes Artac. Eight others are a single stroke back and seven more at even par.
The second round will be played on Saturday with the Big Green teeing off on the first hole with Marshall (+17, 13th) and the leading Hokies at 1:10 p.m.ww
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