Newton Citizen

GREENWOOD, S.C. -- Former Eastside golfer Taylor Smith shot an even-par 144 in the first day of the Bearcat Invitational, hosted by Lander University, at Greenwood Country Club on Monday to keep Georgia College and State University golf team in second place behind USC Aiken.

Smith, who put up the second-best opening round of the tournament with a 68, following with a 76 in round two, was joined by freshman Ryan Trocchio (Norcross) tied for ninth place overall with a score of 144. Trocchio shaved two strokes off an opening round 73 to reach his even-par score.

Junior Patrick Garrett (Kennesaw) ground out a pair of 73s for 2-over par for 15th place. Joining the trio in the top 20 was rookie David Sullivan (Woodstock) carding rounds of 74 and 73 for 3-over par to finish the opening round in 19th place. Rounding out GCSU's five was freshman Victor Monte (Chantilly, Va.), carding a 74 and 80 for 55th place.

The No. 22-ranked Georgia College golf squad stands 10 strokes back in second place after two rounds Monday at the Bearcat Invitational, hosted by Lander University. GCSU fired rounds of 288 and 293 on the par-72, 6,800-yard course.

Georgia College and State University is second among the tournament's 17 teams, bettering eight Peach Belt Conference (PBC) schools. The Bobcats are also above three top-25 teams in the most recent Golfstat Head-to-Head Rankings: No. 16 Georgia Southwestern State University, No. 17 Armstrong and No. 20 Carson-Newman College.

Flagler College's Joel Dahlenburg posted rounds of 66 and 67 to lead the tournament, bettering C-NC's Gavin Hay by five strokes.