Senators in fourth after opening round at Piedmont Invitational

CLARKESVILLE, Ga. — The Walters State golf team sits in fourth place following the opening round of the Piedmont Fall Invitational held on The Orchard Course at The Orchard Golf & Country Club in the Peach State.

The Senators fired an opening round of 24-over par 312, 18 shots off the pace set by Methodist University's team that posted an opening 294. Piedmont College, the tournament's host, is second at 297, followed by Covenant College (310), Walters State and Sewanee (317) in the top five.

Abraham Baldwin sits in sixth place overall at 319, and the Stallions are the second highest junior college on the board behind the Senators. Berea College is seventh at 324, while Cleveland State is eighth at 326 and Mississippi University for Women is ninth in the nine-team field at 330. Cleveland State is the third junior college in the event and is also a Tennessee Community College Athletic Association rival of Walters State.

Hunter Blanken led the Senators with a 4-over par 76, which put him in a tie for 11th place in the individual standings out of 56 players.

Andrew Linkous fired a 6-over par 78, while Alex Hodge and Elliott Smith both added a 7-over par 79 to round out the team scoring for Walters State on the day. Dane Rheinecker totaled an 8-over par 80 on the afternoon for the Senators, missing out on the team scoring by a single stroke.

Abraham Baldwin's Adam Park and Piedmont's Matthew Leemann are tied for the individual lead at 1-under par 71.

The final round of the tournament will be played on Tuesday.