AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Furman's Clark Akers (E) is tied for 19th to pace the Paladins after Saturday's opening two rounds of the Augusta Haskins Award Invite at the par 72, 7,086 yard Forest Hills Golf Club in Augusta, Ga.

Akers, a junior from Nashville, Tenn., fired a 70 with a team-high five birdies, including consecutive birdies on No. 8 and No. 9, in round one, then added a 74 with birdies on No. 9 and No. 17 in round two.  

Senior Trey Diehl (+2) is tied for 30th entering Sunday's final round.  He carded an even 72 with birdies on No. 6 and No. 9 in the opening round and scored a 74 with three birdies in round two.  Seniors Harris Barth (+3) and Will Morlan (+3) are tied for 35th.  Barth recorded a 72 with five birdies, including back to back birdies on No. 17 and No. 18, in round one then posted a 75 with a birdie on No. 11 in round two, while Morlan shot a 72 with four birdies in the first round and a 75 with three birdies in round two.  

Freshman Ludvig Josefsson (+8) is tied for 64th with one round to play.  He tallied a 79 with a birdie on No. 15 then rebounded with a 73 with three birdies in round two.  He scored consecutive birdies on No. 13 and No. 14 to start then round then finished with a birdie on No. 12.

Five highly ranked teams sit at the top of the leaderboard.  No. 12 Illinois (-11) leads the tournament by one stroke over ninth-ranked Oklahoma State (-10).  No. 5 Texas (-9) is in third, followed by sixth-ranked North Carolina (-8) in fourth place.  No. 22 Notre Dame is in fifth place.  The Paladins (+6) are in ninth place in the 15-team field. 

The 54-hole tournament concludes on Sunday beginning at 8:30 a.m. with teams teeing off on No. 1 and No. 10.  The Paladins will tee off on No. 1 and will play in a group with No. 21 Texas Tech and 11th-ranked Arizona.

Admission is free and fans are welcome.  Results and live tournament scoring are available via https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=29381.

9 Furman 286 296 582 +6
T19 Clark Akers (3) 70 74 144 E
T30 Trey Diehl (4) 72 74 146 +2
T35 Harris Barth (1) 72 75 147 +3
T35 Will Morlan (2) 72 75 147 +3
T64 Ludvig Josefsson (5) 79 73 152 +8