DORADO, PUERTO RICO - Symon Balbin and Randall Hudson each finished Sunday's first round tied for third place in the field as the UNC Greensboro (UNCG) men's golf team holds a two-shot lead through one round of the 54-hole Dorado Beach Collegiate at the TPC Dorado Beach.
 
Hudson tallied six birdies on the back nine on the way to a four-under-par (32) back nine score. The junior birdied three of the course's four par five holes and the course hardest hole on the day, the par four 465-yard 18th. That closed out a stretch of back-to-back birdies to finish the back nine. The junior posted back-to-back birdies for his two front nine birdies on the par four, 415-yard fifth hole and the par five, 525-yard sixth on his way to a five-under-par (67) scorecard.
 
Balbin birdied the same holes as part of an unblemished front nine effort. The senior carded a two-under-par (34) and followed with four birdies on the back nine. Balbin produced a stretch of three birdies in five holes beginning with the par four, 380-yard tenth hole. The senior capitalized on the back nine's par five holes, posting his final two birdies in the stretch on both. Balbin finished the back nine with a birdie on the par three, 195-yard 16th. Balbin joins Hudson in a tie for third place at five-under-par (67), two shots of the lead.
 
Nick Lyerly entered the top five with a four-under-par (68) scorecard. The graduate student posted a four-under-par (32) front side where he carded a birdie or better in four out of five holes beginning at the sixth hole. Lyerly posted an eagle on the par five, 510-yard ninth hole and then closed the stretch with a birdie on the tenth. Lyerly stands in a tie for sixth place, three shots off the lead.
 
The Spartans posted a 15-under-par (273) to open the tournament with a two shot lead over Cincinnati in second place. UNCG boasts an eight-shot lead over third-place Duke and Virginia. The 15-under-par effort is a season-low for the Spartans as a team for an individual round.
 
INSIDE THE SCORECARD

• UNCG's two-over-par score on par three holes is the second-best in the field.
• The Spartans were one of three teams to post an under-par effort on par four holes (two-under-par, third in the field)
• With 54 pars, the Spartans hold the third-most in the field.
• UNCG's 23 birdies is fourth in the field, two off the lead.
• Balbin is one of ten golfers in the field to shoot one-under-par on par threes, tied for the lead.
• Hudson and Lyerly's two-under-par effort on par four holes is good for a tie sixth place in the field.

UP NEXT
Round two of the Spartan-hosted tournament begins tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m., Atlantic time, with a shotgun start on the 7,112-yard TPC Dorado Beach.