RESULTS | SCORING | PAIRINGS | PHOTOS
 
PINEHURST, N.C.---The Chattanooga Mocs have the early lead at the Southern Conference Men's Golf Championships. The Mocs turned in 290 over their opening 18 holes at Pinehurst No. 9.
 
Will Porter led the consistent effort with a 2-under 70. Andrew Weathers and Etienne Brault shot 73s with Lake Johnson's 74 rounding out the team score. Luke Long had the drop score of 76.
 
"It was a good, solid day out of everybody," Coach Mark Guhne stated. "If you have one guy playing really good, but it's just covering a couple of guys who are struggling, that's tough. Right now we have five guys who can all go out and shoot a really good number tomorrow and keep things going."
 
Porter was near perfect on the day. He had three birdies and 14 pars with just a bogey at 14 blemishing his card. The counting cards played 62 of the 72 holes par or better, a season-best 86.1 percent rate.
 
The 290 is 10-plus strokes better than the squad's opening round average of 300.40 over the regular season. The second and third round average of 292.68 provide a positive outlook for the next two days.
 
"We've worked on (getting better starts) all year," Guhne continued. "I think it's getting through to us that you don't have to get off to 6 under starts. Just go out, hits some fairways and greens, make some pars…things will care of itself.
 
"Today, we were much more patient. The guys had really good lines, made good choices and committed to their shots. They did exactly what we knew we were capable of doing but hadn't this year.
 
"Hopefully we can do that for two more days. It's nice to get off to a good start instead of digging ourselves out of a hole."
 
The Mocs lead second-place ETSU (292) by two. UNCG (297) is in third followed by Furman (301), Samford (303), Mercer (309), Western Carolina (319) and Wofford (320). Samford's Harlan Winn is the individual leader at 3 under, one ahead of Porter.
 
LINEUP
2) Will Porter: 70 (-2)
T6) Andrew Weathers: 73 (+1)
T6) Etienne Brault: 73 (+1)
T11) Lake Johnson: 74 (+2)
T18) Luke Long: 76 (+4)
 
Complete results linked above.
 
3 NOTES TO KNOW

• The Mocs averaged 73.2 strokes per card. The field's average was 77.65.
• 52 pars for the team is a season high. It's the most since the second round of the 2015 Old Waverly Collegiate. Weathers' 15 today leads the tourney individually. 
• 290 is the best opening 18 for UTC at the SoCon Championships since 1-under 287 in 2011 at the Country Club of South Carolina (Florence). It's the second-best tally overall in 13 rounds at Pinehurst No. 9 behind 4-under 284 in 2014's second round.

 
DATES/TEE TIMES (EDT) – ADMISSION IS FREE
Monday – April 23 – 8:45 a.m. – Hole No. 1 (Pairing: ETSU)
Tuesday – April 24 – 8 a.m. – Hole No. 1 (Pairing: Determined by 36-hole Results)
 
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ABOUT CHATTANOOGA GOLF
The Chattanooga Mocs golf program has won six Southern Conference Championships (1987, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013) since joining the league in 1977-78. The Mocs have twice been ranked No. 1 in the nation during the falls of 2008 and 2009. It boasts:
- 4 NCAA Championships Appearances: 1993 (Individual-Neil Connolly), 2009, 2012, 2014 (Individual-Chris Robb).
- 3 All-Americans: Jonathan Hodge (2008), Stephan Jaeger (2012) and Chris Robb (2014).
- 1 NCAA Regionals Team Title: 2012 Bowling Green.
- 1 NCAA Regionals Medalist: Stephan Jaeger (2012 Bowling Green).
- 8 NCAA Regionals Team Appearances: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
- 3 NCAA Regionals Individual Appearances: Neil Connolly (1992, 1993) and Wes Gosselin (2016).
- 2 Top 25 season-ending rankings: 2008 (12) and 2009 (25).
- 1 PGA TOUR Member: Stephan Jaeger (2018).
- 1 United States Amateur Champion: Steven Fox (2012).
- 1 Scottish Amateur Champion: Chris Robb (2014).
- 8 Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholars: Derek Rende (2009, 2010), Jaeger (2011, 2012), Gosselin (2016, 2017), Phillip Hickam (2017) and Stuart Thomas (2017).
- 2 SoCon Champions: Donnie Green (1978) and Jaeger (2012).
- 5 SoCon Golfers of the Year: Hodge (2007, 2008) and Jaeger (2010, 2011, 2012).
- 3 SoCon Freshman of the Years – Rende (2007), Jaeger (2009) and Andrew Weathers (2015).