Round 1 and 2 Results | Pairings

FRANKLIN, Tenn. (SMU) - The SMU men's golf team fired the third-best second round score to finish day one of the Mason Rudolph Championship in sixth place. The Mustangs used a 4-over 288 to climb four positions on the leaderboard, following an opening round 300 (+16). Host-school No. 9 Vanderbilt leads the 14-team field at 2-under, while No. 19 Florida (+1) and No. 17 Alabama (+5) round off the top three.

"The guys got off to a rough start today. The conditions were tough and the course played very difficult, so scoring was very tough in the morning round for our team," SMU head coach Jason Enloe said. "Alex [Higgs] was the only one with a solid score."

"I was proud of our second round," Enloe added. "It was the third-best of the afternoon session. Hopefully we can put together a good third round and come away with a solid finish."

Alex Higgs was SMU's top performer on day one, shooting even par (71) in the second round to finish the day 1-over (143). The junior shot 1-under on the back nine, carding three birdies in five holes. Earlier in the day, Higgs carded an eagle on the 18th hole, a 522-yard, par-5, and a birdie. Higgs jumped 13 spots on the player leaderboard and is tied for eighth (+1). The junior is five strokes behind tournament-leader, Gordon Neale of Florida.

Senior Ryan Burgess paced the Mustangs in the second round, firing a 2-under 69. Burgess tallied three birdies in the afternoon, including two on the front nine and one on a unblemished back nine. The Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., native is tied for 15th (+3, 145) after climbing 35 positions on the leaderboard.

Sophomore Gray Townsend (+4, 146) finished one stroke behind Burgess. Townsend shot a 1-over second round, highlighted by a 3-under back nine. The Winston-Salem, N.C., native has five birdies and an eagle over the two rounds. Townsend is tied for 20th.

Andrew Buchanan (+12, 154) provided the Mustangs' final counting score of the second round, shooting a 5-over 76 to finish the day tied for 61st. Austin Smotherman is five strokes behind Buchanan (+17, 159).

The Mason Rudolph Championship concludes Sunday, with the final round of action. Teams will tee off in a beginning at 8 a.m. CT. SMU will tee off beginning at 8:45 a.m. CT and will be paired with Lamar and East Tennessee State. Full results and recap from the day will be posted at SMUMustangs.com at the conclusion of the tournament. All of the action can be followed on Golfstat or on the SMU men's golf twitter account (@SMUGolfM).

--SMUMustangs.com--