Harper Guides MGolf to 7th Place Standing

April 26, 2015

TEAM LEADERS - First Round | PLAYER LEADERS - First Round

CALLAWASSIE ISLAND, S.C. -- Senior JT Harper (Pebble Beach, Calif.) fired an even-par, 72, to lead the Seton Hall men's golf team to a seventh place standing following round one of the 2015 BIG EAST Championship at Callawassie Island Golf Club.

Harper was consistent throughout his round using birdies on holes #2, #3 and #18 to finish at even par. He's currently tied with three other golfers for second place among 45 individual golfers, trailing Xavier's Tanapol Vattanapisit by two strokes.

Collectively, despite their seventh place standing, the Pirates are still very much in contention for a BIG EAST title. The Hall shot a 20-over-par, 308, in round one, but trail the team leader, DePaul, by just nine strokes. The Pirates are only four strokes out of fourth.

Junior Ryan Snouffer (Sparta, N.J.) shot a 5-over-par, 75, in round one and is currently tied for 17th place overall. Snouffer's day got off to a rough start with a 3-over, 7, on the par-4 first hole, but he rebounded nicely shooting even-par over the next 11 holes.

Kevin O'Brien (Wexford, Pa.) birdied holes #11 and #18, but double-bogeyed holes #5, #14 and #15 to settle with a 7-over-par, 79, in round one. He's currently tied for 26th place overall.

The round started strong for Lloyd Jefferson Go (Guadalupe Cebu City, Philippines), but the sophomore struggled mightily on the back nine. Go was just 1-over-par on the first nine holes, but shot 7-over on the back to finish his first round with an 8-over-par, 80.

Cory Wilson (Newton, N.J.) rounded out the Pirates' scoring with a 19-over-par, 91, in round one. The junior had similar troubles as Snouffer on the first hole, carding a "7", but his most-damaging hole was a 6-over, 10, on the par-4, 7th hole.

One round of action will take place on each day of the tournament beginning at 8 a.m. ET. All rounds of the Championship, which will be played on the Dogwood and Magnolia Courses, are free and open to the public.

The winning team of the three-day event will earn the BIG EAST's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. Should the individual winner not be a member of that team, he will also earn a spot in the NCAA field.

The club features three nine-hole courses. Most of the competition will play out on the Dogwood Course on Sunday and Monday. For Tuesday's final round, the first 10 threesomes will tee off on Dogwood and the final five will play the Magnolia Course. Five student-athletes will play for each of the nine teams, with the top four scores counting towards the team cumulative.

The BIG EAST Digital Network will provide coverage of the final round on www.bigeast.com. Complete results following each day's competition will be found at SHUpirates.com and golfstat.com.

2015 BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP -- Team Scores
Pos.	Player	R1	R2	R3	TOTAL	PAR
1	DePaul	299			299	+11
T2	Georgetown	301			301	+13
T2	Xavier	301			301	+13
4	Marquette	304			304	+16
5	St. John's	305			305	+17
6	Creighton	306			306	+18
7	SETON HALL	308			308	+20
8	Villanova	316			316	+28
9	Butler	317			317	+29