Queens University of Charlotte

ORLANDO, Fla.- After the first 18-holes of a 54-hole tournament hosted by Golf Week in Orlando, Fla., at the Reunion Resort the No. 33 Queens University of Charlotte men’s golf team is sitting comfortably in third place seven strokes over par (295). The Royals are just four strokes off the leading No. 25 Lander Bearcats (291) and two stokes in front of No. 1 Chico State (297).

No. 9 Lynn University is in second place with a 292.

Queens recorded 10 birdies and one eagle. Robert Andrew Hodge (Hebron, Ky., Conner) picked up the eagle, which proved to be the only eagle posted during the first round. Pureum Lee (North Vancouver, B.C., Canada, Handsworth Secondary) had a team-high four birdies.

Lee, Hodge and Ben Lasso (Falls Church, Va., Heritage Academy) are leading Queens with scores of two over par while Braeden Cryderman (Huntsville, Ontario, St. Dominic's) shot four over and Simon Bird (Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, Tring) was six over, respectively.  Lee and Hodge hit the ball solidly all day, but didn’t start to drop putts until the back nine. Lasso was very steady with one birdie, 15 pars and two bogeys.

The 18-team field is rather stacked with all but two teams ranked in the top 50 in the country. In addition to sitting above No. 1 Chico State, Queens finished the first round higher than seven other teams who are currently ranked higher than the Royals. Two Conference Carolinas opponents, Barton and Coker, made the trip to Orlando.

Three threesomes were unable to finish the first round as daylight ran out. Those nine players will wrap up the first round in the morning before the rest of the field starts round two.

Be sure check out www.golfweek.com for photos galleries, blogs and videos from the tournament. 

Visit www.golfstat.com for current tournament results. PDF copies of the first round will be available when the round wraps up.