SALEM, S.C. -- Furman's Sam Lape (-7) fired an opening round 65 and is tied for third after Monday's opening round of the NCAA Salem Regional at the par-72, 7,126 yard The Cliffs at Keowee Falls in Salem, S.C. The Paladins (-5) are tied for ninth after 18 holes.
A senior from Atlanta, Ga., Lape teed off on No. 10 and birdied three of his first four holes. After another birdie on No. 15, he eagled the par-5 No. 16 and finished the back nine with birdies on No. 17 and No. 18 for a 28 on his opening nine holes. He added birdies on No. 2 and No. 9 on the front to finish the round at 7-under with eight birdies, tying his career low round. Lape enters Tuesday's second round two strokes back of leader Ryan Burnett (-9) of North Carolina, who posted a 63 in the tournament's opening round.
"I got off to a great start today," said Lape. "I birdied my 11th hole to get to 9-under through 11, then tried to keep it there, but the front nine was playing pretty tough. It was great to finish with a birdie on the last hole, so I'm pretty happy with today's round, and hopefully we will be ready to go tomorrow."
Senior Ross Funderbuke (E) birdied No. 18 to turn at 3-over but came alive on the front nine with an eagle on the par-5 No. 2. He birdied three of his last four holes to finish with an even 72, tying for 42nd.
Three Paladins are tied for 49th after Monday's first round. Senior Walker Crosby (+1), sophomore Will Morlan (+1), and freshman Harris Barth (+1) all carded a 1-over 73. Crosby posted two birdies on the back and one on the front, while Morlan recorded two birdies on each side, and Barth notched birdies on No. 1 and No. 18.
No. 35 Arkansas (-22) leads the regional by six strokes over 47th-ranked New Mexico (-16) with 36 holes to play. Second-ranked North Carolina (-15) sits in third place, followed by Northern Illinois (-13) and Georgia Tech (-10). Furman (-5) is tied for ninth with No. 38 Purdue (-5) and Middle Tennessee State (-5).
The Paladins, who will tee off of No. 1 at 8:55 a.m. on Tuesday and play in a group with No. 14 Texas A&M and host Clemson, are part of a 14-team regional field that is battling for a top-five finish and a berth in the 30-team NCAA Championship, which will be held May 26-31 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. The Salem Regional field includes four of the top 25 teams in the country led by North Carolina, which ranks second in the latest GolfStat rankings. No. 11 Georgia Tech, 14th-ranked Texas A&M, and No. 23 San Diego State are also competing in Salem.
Furman, which received a regional at-large bid for the first time since 2002, will make its fifth NCAA Regional appearance. The Paladins last competed at a regional in 2010, when Furman finished 11th at the Southeast Regional in Alpharetta, Ga.
Live scoring of the NCAA Salem Regional is available at http://www.golfstat.com or by logging onto http://www.furmanpaladins.com.
T9 Furman 283 -5
T3 Sam Lape (2) 65 -7
T42 Ross Funderburke (3) 72 E
T49 Will Morlan (1) 73 +1
T49 Harris Barth (4) 73 +1
T49 Walker Crosby (5) 73 +1
