Louisville grabs lead after opening round of Linger Longer Invitational; Penn State in ninth place

   Louisville, No. 25 in the latest Golfstat rankings and coming off a solid fourth-place finish earlier this week in the General Hackler Championship in Myrtle Beach, S.C., jumped in front in Friday’s opening round of the Linger Longer Invitational at Reynolds Lake Oconee’s The Landing Course in Greensboro, Ga.

   With Jiri Zuska, a freshman from the Czech Republic, grabbing the individual lead and Matthias Schmid, a sophomore from Germany, tied for second, the Cardinals, out of the Atlantic Coast Conference, carded a 10-under-par 278 over The Landing Course, which measures 6,991 yards and plays to a par of 72.

   No. 21 Liberty, which finished four shots ahead of Louisville in third place in the General Hackler, continued its strong play with a 6-under 282 that left it tied for second place with No. 88 North Carolina Greensboro.

   Southeastern Conference representative Georgia, ranked 15^th, and No. 53 Ohio State, out of the Big Ten, were tied for fourth place as each posted a 3-under 285.

   No. 113 Mercer was alone in sixth place at 2-under 286. No. 24 Alabama, last year’s SEC and NCAA Championship runnerup, and No. 115 Augusta were tied for seventh at even-par 288.

   No. 68 Penn State got off to a decent start, carding a 1-over 289 that left it alone in ninth place in the nine-team field. The Nittany Lions were a solid fifth in their last outing at the Colleton River Collegiate in Bluffton, S.C., but have dropped eight spots in the Golfstat rankings. A solid showing in the Linger Longer, which continues with single rounds Saturday and Sunday, might bolster the Nittany Lions’ ranking and, probably more importantly, their confidence.

   Zuska grabbed the individual lead with a sizzling 7-under 65 with his teammate Schmid grabbing a share of second place with a 5-under 67 to the lead way for Louisville.

   A couple of Cardinals from Ireland put together decent rounds to kick off the St. Patty’s Day weekend. Junior John Murphy carded a 1-under 71 to join the group tied for 20^th. Devin Morley, also a junior, posted a 3-over 75 and is among the group tied for 50^th.

   Also in that group tied for 50^th place at 3-over 75 for the Cardinals was Trevor Johnson, a junior from Brentwood, Tenn.

   Sharing second place with Louisville’s Schmid at 5-under 67 was Charlotte junior Marc Boucher, another Irishman.

   UNC-Greensboro’s Bryce Hendrix, a senior from Greenville, N.C., and Augusta’s Viktor Lindgren, a junior from Sweden, were tied for fourth after each posted a 4-under 68.

   Leading the way for Penn State was Alec Bard, a junior from New Hartford, N.Y. who carded a 2-under 70 to join the group tied for 13^th place. Senior JD Hughes, a Carlisle product and the winner of the 2017 Pennsylvania Amateur at White Manor Country Club, matched par with a 72 and is among the group tied for 25^th place.

   Ryan Dornes, the 2014 PIAA Class AAA runnerup as a senior at Manheim Township, posted a solid 1-over 73 and was in the group tied for 32^nd place. Charles Huntzinger, a senior from Duluth, Ga., was among the group tied for 41^st place at 2-over 74.

   Rounding out the Penn State lineup was Ryan Davis, a junior from Berkeley Heights, N.J. who carded a 5-over 77 to land among the group tied for 66^th place.