GREENSBORO, Ga. – Kennesaw State men’s golf finds themselves in sixth place after the first round of the Linger Longer Invitational at Reynold’s Landing Golf Club in Greensboro, Ga. Co-hosting the event with Mercer, head coach Jay Moseley’s squad out-played eighth-ranked Texas A&M and 20th ranked Georgia on day one.

Sophomore Jeff Karlsson fired an even-par 72 to lead the way for the Owls, who saw four of the five players in their lineup shoot scores in the 70s. Karlsson, who counts a win and a runner-up finish among the results of his first seven events of last season, will enter Saturday’s play in a tie for fourth, eight strokes behind Alabama’s Bud Cauley, who shot an eight-under 64.
Karlsson, a native of Sweden, made two birdies to go along with two bogeys on his way to his even-par round. His two birdies came back-to-back on holes eight and nine to close out the front nine with a bang and give him a one-under 35 on the front side.
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“Today my swing was working pretty well for me, so I just trusted hit and felt like I hit the ball the way I should,” said Karlsson. “I was comfortable with the layout of the golf course so everything went well.”
Freshman Ben Greene, playing in his second tournament of the spring, carded a two-over par 74, which tied for the second lowest score of his rookie campaign. His score was the second on the squad, which was followed by Sam Curtis (78) and Alex Jones (79) to round out the team score for the day, +15 303. Senior J.P. Putnam scored fifth in the lineup with an 82.

“I was proud of the way the guys hung in there on such a tough golf course today,” Moseley said following the day’s round. “The scoring was obviously tough, with all of the wind and with the challenging hole locations, but our guys were patient and they hit some really good shots. We struggled a little bit during the middle of a couple of our rounds, but overall, it was a pretty solid day. I was very pleased with Jeff’s and Ben’s rounds. They stepped up really well for us.”

Looking up, the Owls, who are the co-hosts of the event with Mercer, have some of the most prominent teams in men’s collegiate golf to climb over on their way to the top of the leaderboard. No. 2 Oklahoma State (+5), No. 24 Alabama (+6), No. 15 Georgia Tech (+12) and No. 11 Florida State (+13) all sit in front of Moseley’s squad after day one. Furman is tied with Oklahoma State for the lead at +5.

Senior Chad Wilson, who was playing as an individual, fired a +4 76 to lead the field of 13 players who are unattached.

The Owls tee off at 9:10 Saturday morning.

Ongoing coverage of the tournament, including live scoring, is available throughout the weekend on golfstat.com. You can visit the tournament page by clicking the link at the top of the page.

Linger Longer Invitational- Round One Results
t4.   Jeff Karlsson- 72 (E)
t11. Ben Greene-  74 (+2)
t24. Chad Wilson- 76 (+6) ***
t48. Sam Curtis-   78 (+6)
t58. Alex Jones-   79 (+7)
t77. J.P. Putnam- 82 (+10)

*** Playing as individual

Team Results

T1	Furman University	+5	F	+5	293	293
T1	Oklahoma State	+5	F	+5	293	293
3	Alabama	+6	F	+6	294	294
4	Georgia Tech	+12	F	+12	300	300
5	Florida State	+13	F	+13	301	301
6	Kennesaw St. Univ.	+15	F	+15	303	303
T7	Charlotte	+16	F	+16	304	304
T7	Georgia	+16	F	+16	304	304
T9	Texas A&M	+17	F	+17	305	305
T9	Coastal Carolina	+17	F	+17	305	305
11	Louisville, U. of	+19	F	+19	307	307
12	South Carolina-Aiken	+23	F	+23	311	311
13	San Jose State Univ.	+25	F	+25	313	313
14	Mercer University	+26	F	+26	314	314
15	Oklahoma, U. of	+27	F	+27	315	315
16	South Alabama, U. of	+29	F	+29	317	317

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