SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Brock Blais is in the top 10 individuals and the UTSA men’s golf team is in third place after the opening round of The Carolina Cup, which teed off Sunday at Carolina Country Club (par 72/7,071 yards).
Blais carded a 1-over-par 73 to help lead the Roadrunners to a 297 on the first day of the 54-hole event. The freshman from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, registered three birdies to grab a share of ninth place, four shots off the pace of 4-under par set by Mercer’s Tobias Jonsson and North Texas’ Cody Winkler. Starting on No. 1, he reeled off four straight pars before recording a birdie on the 407-yard, par-4 fifth hole. He closed his round with back-to-back birdies on Nos. 17 and 18 to move into the top 10 of the 83-man field.
Hunter Bott and David Harrison are one shot behind their teammate as part of a seven-way tie for 17th place at 2-over 74. Bott, a senior from Montgomery, Texas, circled two numbers on his opening-round scorecard. Harrison, a senior from Trophy Club, Texas, led all Roadrunners with four birdies on Sunday.
Jack Wehman provided the other counting score for UTSA, as the junior out of Austin posted a 76 that featured a pair of birdies to settled into a tie for 32nd.
Christian Rodriguez rounds out the UTSA lineup in 51st after turning in a 78.
The Roadrunners are sitting at 9-over par, five strokes behind a tie for first between North Texas and Winthrop and one shot in front of Mercer in the 15-team field. Kennesaw State is in fifth at 11-over par, with UAB and Jacksonville one back in a deadlock for sixth.
Round two is set for Monday.
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