Pugh, Meronk tied for fifth at 4-under

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (April 15, 2013) – The ETSU men’s golf team finished the opening day of the Coca-Cola Invitational in second-place after the Bucs carded an 11-under-par 565 (285-280) following 36-holes of competition on Monday at the Country Club of Spartanburg.

ETSU was fueled by the strong play from sophomore Rhys Pugh (Pontypridd, Wales) and freshman Adrian Meronk (Wroclaw, Poland) in the Bucs’ final tournament before competing in next week’s Atlantic Sun Championship. Both Pugh and Meronk enter Tuesday’s third and final round in a tie for fifth at 4-under 140.

After posting a first round score of even-par 72, Pugh ended the day on a solid note by firing a 4-under 68 to move up 12 spots on the leaderboard. Meanwhile, Meronk – who registered 11 birdies on the day – shot a 3-under-par 69 in round one and wrapped up the day with a 1-under 71 in the second round.

The Buccaneer duo trail Wofford’s Charles Moore by four strokes as the Terrier golfer sits atop the leaderboard at 8-under 136, and holds a one-shot lead over Appalachian State’s Caleb Keck. In addition, Wofford, the tournament host, holds the team lead by eight shots over the Blue and Gold. The Terriers finished the opening 36-holes of play at 19-under 557 (283-274).

Other ETSU notables included freshman Chris Hickman’s (Centreville, Md.) two-round score of 2-under 142 and sophomore Scott Gibson (Southerness, Scotland) generated a two-round total of 1-under 143. Hickman – who is tied for 12th – tallied consecutive rounds of 71, while Gibson (73-70) is in a seven-way tie for 15th.

Tuesday’s final round is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m., with the Bucs being paired with Wofford, Appalachian State, and Radford.       

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