GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Riding the strength of Keller Harper's five-under par 66, Furman grabbed the lead in Friday's opening round of the 51st Annual Furman Intercollegiate at the par 71, 6,994-yard Furman University Golf Course.

Harper, a senior from Atlanta, Ga., is tied for first place with George Mason's Colin Slater, who also fired a 66 after the start to Friday's round was delayed one hour due to wet conditions.

Furman's one-under par round of 283 earned the Paladins a four-shot lead over Southern Conference rival Wofford, which carded a three-over par 287.  Florida Gulf Coast is in third place, seven shots back at 290, and George Mason is fourth at 292, eight shots over par and nine shots off the pace. Charleston Southern is fifth following an opening round 293.

Seventeen teams are taking part in the three-round tournament.

Looking to continue a run of solid spring performances that included a win at the Pinnacle Bank Invitational at Hilton Head Island (Feb. 22-23) and second place finish two weeks ago at the Cleveland Golf Palmetto Intercollegiate at Aiken (Mar. 8-9), Harper opened the round with birdies on three of his first five holes.  He then reeled off nine consecutive pars before carding his fourth red number of the day with a birdie at the 524-yard, par-five 15th. The two-time reigning SoCon Player of the Year and 2019 Furman Intercollegiate champion closed out his card with a birdie on the 403-yard par-four 18th.

The 66 represented the eighth sub-par outing of Harper's now 13-round spring campaign.

Paladin freshman Mac Scott countered four bogeys with four birdies en route to a level par 71, good for a tie for seventh on the leader board with four others. He was followed closely by teammate Ross Funderburke, whose opening round 72 put him in a tie for 12th.  Jack Crosby (74) and Reynolds Lambert (75) rounded out Furman's five-man squad.

Slater bogeyed the 421-yard, par four first hole but then proceeded to birdie five of the front nine's remaining holes to make the turn at four-under par 31.  The freshman from Austin, Texas, continued his string of red on the back nine, registering birdies at 10, 12, and at the 524-yard par five 15th to get to seven-under par before suffering bogeys at 17 and 18 to finish with his 66.

Four players are four shots back of Harper and Slater following opening round 70s, including Jake Carter of Charleston Southern, Tyler Jones of Marshall, Brady Madsen of Florida Gulf Coast, and Harper's Paladin teammate, Walker Crosby, who is competing as an individual.

Other Paladins are competing as individuals include Sam Lape (71/T12th), Phil Jones (74/T29th), Demi Di Matteo (74/T29th), Nathan Norfleet (76/T60th), and Owen Burden (81/T91st).

Saturday's second round is slated to get underway at 8:00 a.m., and final round action on Sunday will commence with a 9:00 a.m. shotgun start.

Live scoring of the Furman Intercollegiate is available on www.furmanpaladins.com via Golfstat.