FOLEY, Ala. – Cameron Foster (Southaven) finished the opening round of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II Men's Golf Championship tied for 54th with a 77 (+5) on Monday.
After starting the day with a 40 (+4) on the back-nine, Foster rebounded with a 37 (+1) on the front-nine of Glen Lakes Golf Club in Foley, Alabama.
The sophomore opened the tournament with a birdie on the 553-yard, par-five tenth before falling to even with a bogey on the par-three twelfth. Trouble on the par-four fourteenth turned into a double bogie and bogies on No. 15 and No. 18 put Foster four-over at the turn.
Back-to-back birdies on No. 1 and No. 2 pulled Foster to plus-two. Bogies on No. 4 and No. 5 pushed him back to plus-four before finding his fourth birdie of the day on the 478-yard, par-five sixth to move to plus-three through 15 holes complete. Bogies on No. 7 and No. 8 to go along with a par on the final hole moved him to plus-five on the day.
Foster will be paired with Stephen Bukielski of Oakton (IL) Community College and Austin Hardman of Mesa (AZ) Community College on Tuesday. The trio will start the second day of the tournament from No. 1 with a 7:54 a.m. tee time. Bukielski finished the opened round tied for 72nd after carding a 79 (+7) while Hardman turned in a 71 (-1) to finish tied for second.
Kean Kontor of Southeast (NE) Community College finished the day with the lead at 70 (-2). Tyler (TX) Junior College is atop the leaderboard with a team total 289 (+1) after the first day of play.
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Foster is the first ICC golfer to compete in the NJCAA DII Championship since Hubert Tucker award-winner and Mississippi State University signee Alex Rowland (Houston) finished tied for third in the 2010 national tournament at Palm Valley Golf Course in Phoenix, Arizona.
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