SANDESTIN, Fla. – Appalachian State sophomore
Tripp Summerlin finished round one of the 2018 Sun Belt Men's Golf Championship in a three-way tie atop the leaderboard to pace the Mountaineers on Sunday.
A double bogey on Summerlin's last hole of the day was the only blemish on his first-round scorecard. His 1-under 70 on the day was matched only by ULM's Joao Girao and Texas State's Alvaro Carol Estrems. Summerlin, from Summerfield, N.C., combined three birdies with 14 pars to account for 17 of his 18 holes on Sunday's 6,802-yard course at the Raven Golf Club.
As a team, App State was in first or second place for most of the day before settling into a tie for seventh at 300 (+16) entering Monday's second round. The Mountaineers played the gusty Gulf Coast winds well for most of the day and are only six strokes behind leader Coastal Carolina.
"We got off to a really good start and didn't quite finish," head coach
Bo Redman said. "The guys were playing really well most of the day. Tomorrow we have an opportunity to play with some good teams and golfers and we look forward to finishing better. We want to make sure we are in good position going into the final round with a chance to make it into Wednesday's match play (in which the top four teams advance)."
Alex Burris joins Summerlin on the top 10 of the individual leaderboard heading into the second round. The junior from Greensboro, N.C., fired a 1-over 72 that featured three birdies. He played even-par on his back nine to put him in a tie for seventh overall at the end of the day.
Freshman
Candler Rice carded a 78, junior
Walter Brinker shot 80, and junior
Chance Watson rounded out the App State lineup with a first-round 88.
App State will be paired with Georgia State and ULM on Monday. They will tee off beginning at 8:15 a.m. CT.
