Pugh, Meronk pace ETSU in opening round

FRANKLIN, Tenn. (April 3, 2015) – The ETSU men’s golf team carded a 7-over-par 291 and the 39th-ranked Buccaneers sit in the middle of the pack following the opening round of the Mason Rudolph Championship. 

ETSU, who is tied for seventh with Notre Dame, was led by senior Rhys Pugh (Pontypridd, Wales) and junior Adrian Meronk (Wroclaw, Poland) on Friday at the Vanderbilt Legends Club. The Buccaneer tandem shot an even-par 71 and are tied for 17th in the 81-man field. 

Pugh carded three birdies, a bogey and a double-bogey, while Meronk totaled an eagle, two birdies, and four bogeys in the opening round. Pugh was 1-over thru nine, but birdied two of his first three holes on the back nine moving to 1-under. Following his double-bogey on the par-3, 201-yard 16th, Pugh finished the day with his third and final birdie on 18, resulting in the 71. Meronk was even on the front nine as he began the day with a bogey before posting a birdie on the par-3, 196-yard No. 3. From there, Meronk – the 20th-ranked golfer by Golfweek – bogeyed the first two holes on the back nine before registering his sixth eagle of the season on the par-5, 517-yard 14th. Meronk ended the round with a bogey on No. 16, and like Pugh, birdied No. 18.  

Vanderbilt, the tournament host and fifth-ranked team in the country, sits atop the leaderboard at 4-under-par 280. The Commodores hold a three-shot lead over No. 11 Georgia Tech and No. 21 Kennesaw State. 

Kennesaw State’s Kelby Burton fired a 4-under-par 67 and takes a one-stroke lead into Saturday’s second round. Ball State’s McCormick Clouser and Georgia Southern’s Scott Wolfes are both at 3-under 68. 

Along with Pugh and Meronk, the Bucs were also led by junior Gudmundur Kristjansson (Reykjavik, Iceland) and sophomore Mateusz Gradecki (Oborniki Slaskie, Poland) on Friday. Kristjansson, who is coming off his tournament win two weeks ago at the Seminole Intercollegiate, is tied for 39th at 3-over 74 and Gradecki is tied for 47th at 4-over 75. Kristjansson was one-over thru 12, but picked up a triple-bogey on the par-3, 184-yard 13th; however, he managed to birdie two of his final four holes to end the round. 

The Bucs will be paired with Notre Dame and Liberty in round two and tee off from No. 1 at 9 a.m. (ET) on Saturday. 

Live scoring of the tournament can be accessed via Golfstat. 

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For more information on Buccaneer men’s golf, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men’s golf page.