Beale Tied For Lead at Linger Longer Invitational

Saturday, March 24

Mercer University

Linger Longer Invitational

Beale Tied For Lead at Linger Longer Invitational

3/24/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf

GREENSBORO, Ga. - Mercer sophomore James Beale shot a first-round 71 and a second-round 68 to finish tied for first among all golfers at the 2012 Linger Longer Invitational on Saturday at the Great Waters Course in Greensboro, Ga.

As a team Mercer finished day one in 11^th position out of 12 teams in the event, shooting 23-over par and a combined score of 599 (300, 299).

Returning champion, No. 7 Alabama, led the field by posting an impressive 12-under par while No. 25 Georgia resides five strokes back (-7) as the only other team under par with 18 holes to play on Sunday. UT-Chattanooga rounds out the top three with a +1, 577 (289, 288).

Beale was the lone Mercer player to shoot below par in either of the two rounds played on Saturday as he shot one under (71) in round one and followed that up with a four under (68) in the second round. His second-round 68 is the best score he has turned in this season.

The sophomore from Auckland, New Zealand is currently in a three-way tie Jeff Karlsson of Kennesaw St. and Max Scodro of Notre Dame for the overall lead at 5-under. Beale recorded eight birdies and had just three holes over par in his final 18, accounting for his season-low 68.

Redshirt sophomore Hans Reimers posted the Bears' second-best finish on the day placing 45^th individually with a +7, 151 (76, 75). Reimers had gotten his second round to even par through 12 holes, but then bogied three of the next six holes to finish three over in the round.

Senior Josh Cone had a solid day as he posted a +3 (75) in round one and then fought to maintain a +5 (77) outing in round two. Cone was the Bears third top finisher at +8 overall and finished tied for 50^th heading into Sunday's final round.

The rest of Mercer's team will have to pick their play on Sunday in order to make a run up the leaderboard. Mercer is five shots back of 8^th place South Alabama and is in position to make a move on Sunday.

Tee times are again set for 8:15 a.m. tomorrow with individuals set to go off first before teams start play in order of finish. Live results can be found at GolfStat.com.