Georgetown, DePaul tied for lead in Big East Championship

   Georgetown opened its bid for a second straight Big East team title with a 14-over 302 on Callawassie Island’s Dogwood and Magnolia nines at Callawassie Island, S.C. Sunday and a share of the top spot with DePaul after the opening round.

   Sam Madsen, a junior from Madison, Wis., and Kevin Jackson, a sophomore from Atlanta, led the way for the Hoyas, each carding a 2-over 74 over the 6,983-yard, par-72 Tom Fazio-designed Dogwood and Magnolia nines that landed them in a group of seven players tied for fifth. Madsen was named to the All-Big East first team Friday.

   Three teams, Marquette, Seton Hall and Xavier, are tied for third in the tight team race at 304, just two shots behind the co-leaders. Villanova struggled in its first tour of the Dogwood and Magnolia nines and  is eighth in the nine-team field at 322.

   Junior Cole Berman, a former Haverford School standout and the 2015 BMW Philadelphia Amateur champion, backed up Georgetown’s top two with a 76 that has him in a group tied for 15^th. Berman appears on the All-Big East second team. Also for the Hoyas, Eduardo Blochtein, a freshman from Delray Beach, Fla., is tied for 19^th after shooting a 78 and Jack Musgrave, a junior from Chesterton, Ind., is tied for 38^th after struggling to an 84.

   DePaul was led by Jonathan Hewett, a senior from England who is also in the group tied for fifth at 74. Freddy Thomas, a junior from Lakeville, Minn., and Garrett Buckley, a junior from Novi, Mich., backed up Hewett as each carded a 3-over 75 and are in a group tied for 11^th.

   Also for the Blue Demons, Jonathan Goldstein, a senior from Northbrook, Ill., is tied for 19^th after carding a 78 and James Lelliot, a senior from England, is tied for 27^th after opening with an 80.

   Butler’s Joey Acuri, a senior from Cincinnati, had the day’s only sub-par round, a 2-under 70, to seize the individual lead. His teammate, Patrick Allgeier, a freshman from Fort Wayne, Ind., and Seton Hall’s Gen Nagai, a sophomore from the Philippines, each matched par at 72 and are tied for second, two shots behind Acuri. Marquette’s Matt Bachmann, a freshman from Sheboygan Falls, Wis., is alone in fourth place with a 1-over 73.

   Xavier has a pair of players the group tied for fifth at 74, Eduardo Rivera Nicholls, a sophomore from Colombia, and Fox Morrissey, a senior from Franklin, Tenn. Rounding out that group is St. John’s Andrew Yub Baek, a sophomore from Arcadia, Calif.

   Villanova was led by junior Andy Butler, a product of the Manheim Township program who carded a 78 and is in a group tied for 19^th. Lucas Trim, a senior from Tampa, Fla. and an All-Big East second-team selection, is tied for 27^th after carding an 80.

   Connor Daly, a freshman from Bronxville, N.Y., is tied for 29^th after posting an 81 and Zach Egermayer, a junior from Glen Rock, N.J., and Andrew Bowyer, a sophomore from Summit, N.J., each shot 83 and are tied for 36^th.