April 27, 2009

ACWORTH, Ga. -- The Berry men's golf team is the leader of the Southern States Athletic Conference Men's Golf Tournament after opening-round play on Monday. The 36-hole championship is being hosted by Reinhardt and Berry at the Bentwater Golf Club, a 6,869-yard, par-72 course located between Atlanta and Chattanooga.

The Berry Vikings shot a 295 on day one and hold a four-stroke lead over the second place Lee Flames, which carded a 299 on the first day. However, five of the six teams in the tournament are still within a striking distance of just 10 strokes of the leaders.

Southern Wesleyan shot 303, followed by Reinhardt at 304 and Shorter at 305. The four-person Faulkner team carded a score of 346.

Reinhardt's Chris Cartwright leads the tournament after carding a three-under score of 69 on the day. Berry's Samuel del Val is second after shooting a two under-par round of 70. Third place belongs to Josh Lawson from Lee, who shot a 71 in his opening round.

Berry had two players in the top-five for the day as Sam Vautier shot a one-over 73 to tie for fourth place with Southern Wesleyans' Pieter Martin.

The final round of the tournament will begin tomorrow at 10 a.m. The tournament winners as well as the individual (if he is not a member of the winning team) will advance to the NAIA National Tournament from May 19-22 hosted at the TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Ill.

Berry - 295
2 Samuel del Val - 70
T4 4Sam Vautier - 73
T17 Grey Haddon - 77
T18 Chadd Reynolds - 78
T7 Sam Curtis - 75

Lee - 299
T18 M.J. Daffue - 78
27 Sam Bedwell - 86
T7 Wes Nobles - 75
3 Josh Lawson - 71
T7 Caleb Roberson - 75

SWU - 303
T4 Pieter Martin - 73
T23 Joshua Ivy - 81
T14 Lance Bailey - 77
T14 Andy Conn - 77
T11 Chris Newton - 76

Reinhardt - 304
1 Chris Cartwright - 69
T20 Jason Mobley - 79
T14 Rudi Lee - 77
T20 Joe Liptak - 79
T25 Tyler Hays - 83

Shorter - 305
6 Arvid Bengston - 74
22 Alex Lantz - 80
T25 Elrick van Eck - 83
T7 Joaquin Correnti - 75
T11 Ricky Atkinson - 76

Faulkner - 346
T11 Morgan Driskell - 76
T23 Daniel Berry - 81
28 Josh Sutton - 92
29 Jonathan Gober - 97

...berryvikings...