FRANKLIN, TENN. -- Senior Ross Funderburke (-3) carded a 68 to tie for third and pace the Furman men's golf team in Monday's opening day of the Mason Rudolph Championship at the par 71, 7100 yard Vanderbilt Legends Club's South Course in Franklin, Tenn.

The Paladins (-3) are in fourth place, just one shot out of second, after placing three players among the top 18 and all five players among the top 28.   Host Vanderbilt (-10), the nation's top-ranked team,  leads the tournament by six strokes over No. 16 Mississippi State (-4) and 14th-ranked Tennessee (-4).   No. 44 North Florida (+2), sits in fifth, five strokes back of Furman.  

A native of Roanoke, Va., Funderburke birdied No. 1 then added consecutive birdies on No. 5 and No. 6 to turn at 3-under.  He added additional birdies on No. 14 and No. 16 to finish the day two strokes behind Gordon Sargent (-5) of Vanderbilt, who leads the field by one stroke after posting an opening-round 66. 

Senior Walker Crosby (-1) birdied three of his last five holes to finish with a 70 on Monday.  He is tied for 11th entering Tuesday's second round, while freshman Harris Barth (E) is tied for 18th after posting an even 71 with three birdies on Monday.  Sophomore Will Morlan (+1) and senior Sam Lape (+1) are both tied for 28th after each carded a 1-over 72 with two birdies in round one.  

Furman led the field with a 3.08 stroke average on the par 3s and tied for third with a 4.07 average on the par 4s.  The Paladins ranked second with 60 pars and tied for fifth with 16 birdies over the day's 18 holes.

The second round of the 54-hole tournament begins Tuesday at 9 a.m. ET with all teams teeing off on No. 1.  Furman will tee off starting at 11:56 a.m. ET and will play in a group with North Florida and Liberty.  Admission is free and fans are welcome.  Results and live tournament scoring are available via http://www.FurmanPaladins.com and http://www.golfstat.com.

4 Furman 281 281 -3

T3 Ross Funderburke (2) 68 68 -3

T11 Walker Crosby (5) 70 70 -1

T18 Harris Barth (3) 71 71 E

T28 Will Morlan (1) 72 72 +1

T28 Sam Lape (4) 72 72 +1