Plukka, Mercer Lead Golfweek Fall Challenge

Sunday, September 12

Pawleys Island, S.C.

All Day (18 Holes)

Mercer University

Golfweek Fall Challenge

Photo by: Stephen Waldman

9/12/2021 4:20:00 PM | Men's Golf

The Bears finished 15 strokes under par in the first round.

PAWLEY'S ISLAND, S.C. – Martin Plukka shot a career-low 65 in the first round of the Golfweek Fall Challenge to help the Mercer Bears sit atop the leaderboard with a combined 15-under par and total score of 273.

Mercer (-15) holds an eight-stroke lead over its closest competitor, the Jacksonville State Gamecocks.

"We had a great round to start the year," said head coach Jason Payne. "Martin [Plukka] paced us with a 65 and both Tobias Jonsson and Jay Spivey came in under par. Today was a complete team round as we had five guys playing well to open the season. We have 36 holes to go, but I am happy with where we sit after the first 18 holes."

Mercer started on the 10^th tee, and Plukka birdied three of the eight holes on the back nine before turning it up over the final nine holes. After shooting par on the first hole, he buried three consecutive birdies before his lone bogey of the round. He shot 2-under par over the final four holes to bring his score to an impressive 65. Plukka and Wofford's Harry Jones sit tied for the lead.

In addition to Plukka's career-low, Jonsson (-5) and Spivey (-4) finished under par. Jonsson began the day with even par through the first nine holes, but the Huddinge, Sweden, native caught fire in the latter portion of the round. Johnsson was 1-under with seven holes of golf remaining and never shot worse than par on those holes, while recording birdies on back-to-back holes on two occasions. His scorecard read 67 at the end of the round and put him tied for third.

Spivey ended the day tied for fifth after shooting a career-low 68. He played a consistent round of golf to open the season with a pair of birdies on the front and back nine, respectively. He never shot worse than par and carded a career-low 4-under par for a 68.

Mercer Scorecard

1	Mercer	273	--	--	-15	273
T1	Martin Plukka	65	--	--	-7	65
T3	Tobias Jonsson	67	--	--	-5	67
T5	Jay Spivey	68	--	--	-4	68
T30	Jonathan Parker	73	--	--	+1	73
T54	Trey Mixon	75	--	--	+3	75

The Bears will continue play at the Golfweek Fall Challenge on Monday. The team will start from the first tee box. Mixon will tee it up at 9:15 a.m. followed by Parker (9:24), Spivey (9:33), Jonsson (9:42) and Plukka (9:52).

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