March 12, 2007

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Southern Miss men's senior men's golfer Joel Myrick (Hattiesburg, Miss.) collected rounds of 70 and 75 to end the opening day of the Carter Plantation Intercollegiate tied for eighth, while the Golden Eagles ranked seventh of 15 teams in a 54-hole tournament being played at the par-72, 7,049-yard Carter Plantation in Hammond, La., Monday.

Myrick finished the two rounds with a 145, five strokes better than teammate and redshirt freshman Paul Apyan (Chattanooga, Tenn.), who notched a 79 and one-under 71 to finish at 150 and a 31st-place tie. Sophomore Rocky Cleland held down a 37th-place tie after hitting scores of 76 and 75 for a 151, while junior Kyle Ramey (Paducah, Ky.) posted rounds of 80 and 72 for a 152 and a 40th-place tie. Freshman Alex Park (Ithaca, N.Y.) rounded out the Golden Eagle finishers with a 77 and 78 for a 155 and a 55th-place tie.

Daniel Willett of Jacksonville State, Peter O'Keeffe of Southeastern Louisiana and Kent Bull of Middle Tennessee each collected a 141 over the first two rounds to share the lead after 36 holes. Host Southeastern Louisiana held the lead with a two-round team score of 571, 11 strokes better than second-place Middle Tennessee (582) and 13 strokes ahead of South Alabama (584).

Following the Jaguars in the team scoring was Jacksonville State (592), Louisiana Tech and Chattanooga (593), Southern Miss (302-293=595), Ole Miss (597), Arkansas State (598), Mississippi State (600), Nicholls State (603), USF (605), Texas-San Antonio (606), Southeastern Louisiana Green (610) and Louuisiana-Monroe (624).

The tournament concludes Tuesday with the final 18 holes.

Southern Miss Finishers T 8 Joel Myrick 70 75 145 T 31 Paul Apyan 79 71 150 T 37 Rocky Cleland 76 75 151 T 40 Kyle Ramey 80 72 152 T 55 Alex Park 77 78 155

Team Finishers 1. Southeastern La. 285 286 571 2. Middle Tennessee 293 289 582 3. South Alabama 295 289 584 4. Jacksonville St. 298 294 592 5. Louisiana Tech 299 294 593 Chattanooga 294 299 593 7. Southern Miss 302 293 595 8. Ole Miss 295 302 597 9. Arkansas State 297 301 598 10. Mississippi St.. 298 302 600 11. Nicholls State 306 297 603 12. USF 302 303 605 13. Texas-San Antonio 310 296 606 14. Southeastern La. Green 303 307 610 15. Louisiana - Monroe 313 311 624

- SouthernMiss.com -