Sept. 16, 2007

ROCKY FACE, Ga. – After a rain-soaked first round that spanned two days and a long second day on course, No. 20 South Carolina men’s golf leads a star-studded field at the Carpet Capital Collegiate at The Farm Golf Club. In a field of 10 other nationally-ranked teams, including three of the top five, the Gamecocks lead second-place Auburn by five strokes heading into Sunday’s final round.

George Bryan IV paces the Gamecocks with rounds of 71 and 70 to sit in third place at 1414 (-3). Playing at par through the first seven holes of his second round Saturday, Bryan stumbled with a bogey on the par 3 eighth. Four holes later, however, the sophomore recovered with an eagle on the par 5 12th. A birdie on 14 helped push his second-round total to 70 (-2).

Allen Koon worked his way into a tie for seventh place through two rounds, carding a 73 in the second round after a first-round 71 to sit at 144 (E). The junior posted three birdies in each round.

Junior Patrick Cunning is tied for 28th place at 148 (+4) after shooting 75 and 73 to open the tournament. Cunning opened the second round with a birdie and went on to post two more on the front nine. Cunning holds 28th place.

Mark Silvers struggled to an 80 in round one, but came back to post par 72 in the second. The junior birdied three holes on the back nine, including two of his last four to get back even on the day. His two-round 152 (+8) has him in 55th place.

Junior Florian Fritsch suffered the opposite of Silvers, opening with a 75 before battling to an 80 the second time around the course. After carding five birdies in round one, Fritsch posted just two on Saturday and turned in a trio of double bogeys to bring his two-day total to 155 (+11).

Georgia Tech’s Chesson Hadley heads the individual leaderboard at 162 (-1), holding a four-stroke lead over Joel Sjoholm of Georgia State. Hadley blistered the course in round one with a 65, highlighted by nine birdies and marred only by a double bogey on the par four 16th.

Play concludes on Sunday with the first tee time for the Gamecocks at 12:30 p.m.