Buccaneer Norwegian recorded seven birdies over final 10 holes  

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (Oct. 21, 2022) – Mats Ege (Kristiansand, Norway) was on fire in the opening round of the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate, which got underway on Friday at the Lakeside Course.

Highlighted with seven birdies over his final 10 holes, Ege moved into a tie for fourth at 4-under-par 68 in the 75-player field. Ege, who was 3-over thru his first eight holes, posted his first birdie of the day on the par-5, 564-yard No. 18. From there, Ege birdied another par-5 on No. 1 and collected three straight from holes No. 3-5. Ege then finished with back-to-back birdies on No. 8 and 9, closing with the 68. Ege’s seven birdies were tied for the second-most in round one with Alabama’s Nick Dunlap – the 18-hole leader – pacing the field with eight.

Dunlap is tied for the lead with Georgia Tech’s Hiroshi Tai at 7-under-par 65, while Virginia’s Ben James – the No. 4 ranked golfer via Golfstat – is in third-place at 5-under 67. Ege is one of eight golfers tied for fourth at 4-under 68, which includes Stanford’s Michael Thorbjornsen (No. 3 by Golfstat), Tennessee’s Caleb Surratt (No. 47) and Pepperdine’s William Mouw (No. 97).

Archie Davies (Carlisle, England) also posted some birdies down the stretch to move into a tie for 25th at 1-under 71. Davies birdied two of his final four holes to get into the red. Davies tied for the lowest scoring average on the par-3s as he played the four holes at two-under with two birdies and two pars.

In team scoring, No. 13 Georgia Tech – the tournament host – and Clemson are tied for the lead at 12-under-par 276, while No. 25 Pepperdine (-9), No. 5 Stanford (-8) and No. 12 Alabama (-8) capped off the top five teams on Friday.

The Bucs are tied for 11th with Southern Cal at 2-over-par 290.

All 13 teams in the field played in the 2022 NCAA Regionals, while six teams – including the 45th-ranked Buccaneers – appeared in the NCAA Championship a year ago.

The Blue and Gold will be the first team out on the course Saturday as ETSU tees off at 9 a.m. from No. 1. The Bucs are grouped with Southern Cal and Georgia Tech’s “B” team.  

Fans can follow live scoring all weekend at Golfstat.com. In addition, live tweets will be available by following the Bucs on Twitter @ETSU_MGolf.

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