Gordon, a semifinalist a few weeks back at the North & South Amateur where he lost to eventual champion and 2021 Dogwood Invitational winner Louis Dobbelaar, made eight birdies in Wednesday’s round. The only blemish on his scorecard was a bogey on the par-3 14th hole. He went on to close out his round with three straight pars before making his last birdie of the day on the par-4 finishing hole.
A name familiar to the hometown folks, Ben Carr, is just one stroke off the lead after opening with a 6-under 64.
Carr, who is a member of Columbus CC and captain of the Georgia Southern University golf team, won the event just two years ago on his home course, cruising to a 10-shot victory with a 19-under 261 score, which was aided by a course-record 61. He finished third last year, two shots behind champion Connor Howe.
Jansen Preston, a Vanderbilt player, shot 3-under 67 on Wednesday and sits in solo third going into round two.Your Leader after Round 1 with a 7 under, 63, Zack Gordon from Clemson. pic.twitter.com/FwaVvj2bNs
— Southeastern Amateur (@SoutheasternAm) July 21, 2021
A group of four players shot 4-under 66 and is for fourth. Those include South Carolina’s Rafe Reynolds, Kentucky’s Campbell Kremer, Mississippi State’s Benjamin Nelson and West Virginia’s Logan Perkins.
Seven other players all posted a 3-under 67 on Wednesday and are tied for eighth overall going into Thursday’s second round. Among those players are Avery Price, a teammate of Carr’s at Georgia Southern, University of Georgia’s Nicolas Cassidy, who tied for second in the Dogwood Invitational played in Druid Hills (Ga.) back in June, and Southern Cal’s Alex Ross.
A total of 26 players broke par in the opening round. Thirty-eight players in the field of 90 shot even par or better over the first 18 holes on Wednesday.
The Southeastern Amateur started back in 1922 when it was created by Fred Haskins, a former head professional at Columbus Country Club. The Haskins Award, given annually to the most outstanding player in collegiate golf, is named in his honor.
Past winners of the Southeastern Amateur include former Masters champion Tommy Aaron, five-time winner Allen Doyle and former U.S. Open winner Curtis Strange. Tournament runners-up include Masters winners Ben Crenshaw and Fuzzy Zoeller, Brunswick (Ga.) native Steve Melnyk, a U.S. and British Amateur champion, and Andy Bean, who grew up on Jekyll Island (Ga.) and went on to become a three-time All-American for the University of Florida and an 11-time winner on the PGA Tour.