Athens, Ga. – There were plenty of birdies, and even a few Eagles, to be had on the opening day of the 2021 ASUN Men's Golf Championship at the University of Georgia Golf Course, but the Stetson Hatters had a hard time finding them.
 
The 45 players in the field combined to score 105 birdies during Sunday's opening round, with every hole on the course except for the 209-yard par 3 13^th hole surrendering at least one, but Stetson managed just five as a team, with only freshman Truman Keppy posting more than one.
 
As a result of those troubles, the Hatters are in seventh place in the nine-team field after the opening round. Stetson coach Larry Watson said his team had plenty of opportunities to be in better position.
 
"We threw away every chance we had to play well today," Watson said. "We made a lot of mistakes out there. This course is hard, but it is not unfair as you can tell by some of the other scores. We could have been right there is North Florida and North Alabama, but we didn't make any birdies.
 
"We just didn't play well enough, that is the bottom line."
 
Jacksonville's Michael Sakane had no trouble finding birdies, firing a 7-under-par (64) to lead the field. Sakane's 64 tied the championship opening-round record that was set in 2005. Nine other golfers finished the day under par with Jackson Wedgeworth of North Alabama leading the rest of the pack at -5 (66).
 
Sakane had six birdies on his own, in addition to one of the four Eagles.
 
Even with Sakane torching the course, Jacksonville couldn't keep pace with Liberty. The Flames currently lead the team tournament with a total score of 273, 11-under par, with each of their top four players shooting rounds of 69 or better. The Dolphins (280, -4) follow seven shots back with FGCU (285, +1), Kennesaw State (287, +3) and North Florida (288, +4) rounding out the top five. 
 
Stetson finished with an opening round score of 298 and enters Monday's second round seven shots behind North Alabama, but just one shot in front of Lipscomb.
 
Keppy and sophomore Mason Quagliata lead the Hatters, both having posted opening round scores of three-over par 74. The Hatters' pair of graduates – Chris Williard and Nick Montes – had matching rounds of 75 and are tied for 29^th. Benjamin Resnick was never able to get things going on Sunday and finished with an opening round 84.
 
The 42nd edition of the ASUN Men's Golf Championship continues on Monday with the second round starting at 8:30 a.m. ET off the first tee at the UGA Golf Course. Follow all of the Live Scoring via GolfStat and get updates on social media from the course via Twitter by following @ASUN_Golf.

ASUN Championship Team Standings
1. No. 13 Liberty (273, -11)
2. Jacksonville (280, -4) 
3. FGCU (285, +1) 
4. Kennesaw State (287, +3) 
5. No. 18 North Florida (288, +4) 
6. North Alabama (291, +7) 
7. Stetson (298, +14) 
8. Lipscomb (299, +15) 
9. Bellarmine (305, +21) 

ASUN Championship Individual Standings
1. Michael Sakane, Jacksonville (64, -7) 
2. Jackson Wedgeworth, North Alabama (66, -5) 
T3. Alexandre Vandermoten, Jacksonville (67, -4) 
T3. No. 89 Jonathan Yaun, Liberty (67, -4) 
T5. No. 7 Kieran Vincent, Liberty (68, -3) 
T5. No. 2 Nick Gabrelcik, North Florida (68, -3) 
T7. Van Holmgren, FGCU (69, -2) 
T7. Ervin Chang, Liberty (69, -2) 
T7. Zach Barbin, Liberty (69, -2) 
10. Takafumi Shimoji, Kennesaw State (70, -1) 

About Stetson University Athletics: Stetson University's Athletics Program has a vision of developing a culture of champions athletically, academically and within the community. This vision is accomplished through a mission of recruiting and developing student-athletes, coaches and staff, creating a culture of champions, within and outside of competition. The department operates with five core values: Championship Culture, Integrity, Excellence, Pride/Tradition and Leadership. To learn more about the Vision, Mission and Core Values for Stetson Athletics, visit GoHatters.com and click on Mission Statement under the Inside Athletics tab.