MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. -- Furman's Harris Barth (-2) is tied for ninth to lead the Paladin men's golf team after Sunday's first round of the General James Hackler Championship, which is being presented by Carolina Wealth Advisors and hosted by Coastal Carolina at the par 72, 7,233 yard The Dunes Golf & Beach Club.

A junior from Atlanta, Ga., Barth teed off on No. 10 and eagled the par-5 No. 15 then birdied No. 16 to turn at 2-under.  He added an additional birdie on No. 4 to card a 70 and sits three strokes back of leaders Zach Heffernan (-5) of Baylor and Brendan Valdes (-5) of Auburn, who each fired an opening-round 67. 

Three Furman players are tied for 38th at 1-over:  seniors Will Morlan (-1) and Trey Diehl (-1) and junior Clark Akers (-1).  The Paladin trio each shot a 73 in round one, with Morlan recording three birdies and Diehl and Akers each notching a pair of birdies.  Junior Zach Frazer (+6) tallied a 78 with three birdies to tie for 79th. 

Auburn (-11) leads the tournament by four shots over Duke (-7).  Baylor (-6) is in third place, followed by the Paladins (+1), who are tied for fourth place with Louisville (+1), ahead of Power 5 opponents Wake Forest (+5 - 8th place), N.C. State (+8 - 13th place), and Missouri (+8 - 13th place).  Furman also leads SoCon foe ETSU (+7 - 11th place) by six strokes. 

The 54-hole tournament continues on Monday with teams teeing off of No. 1 and No. 10 starting at 8:05 a.m.  Furman will tee off on No. 1 beginning at 9 a.m. and will play in a group with Louisville and Liberty.  

Admission is free and fans are welcome.  Results and live tournament scoring are available via https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=29377.

T4 Furman 289 +1
T9 Harris Barth (1) 70 -2
T38 Will Morlan (2) 73 +1
T38 Trey Diehl (3) 73 +1
T38 Clark Akers (4) 73 +1
T79 Zach Frazer (5) 78 +6