FRANKLIN, TENN. - - Belmont men’s golf turned in its finest collective effort of the spring season Monday, racking up plenty of red numbers in placing joint second after day one of the eighth annual Belmont Intercollegiate.

Receptive greens and virtually no wind created ideal scoring conditions on the 6,685 yard Par 71 Old Natchez Country Club layout. After its team seven under par 277 in the morning 18 placed them third, Belmont duplicated their solid 277 score in the afternoon. Overall, the youthful Bruins fired an outstanding fourteen under par 554, putting them just nine strokes behind team leader Austin Peay.

Sophomore Scott O’Brien (Brookings, S.D.) followed a morning two under par 69 with a sizzling, career-low round of five under par 66 coming in. O’Brien’s 36 hole total of 135 (-7) puts him T-3. Junior Danny Amundson (Sioux Falls, S.D.) is also in contention, as his total of 138 (-4) puts him T-8. Freshman Bryn Rocke (Durban, South Africa) is T-13 at 139 (-3). Freshman Simon Marshall (N. Yorkshire, England) is T-38 at 144 (+2). Rounding out the Bruin scoring, freshman Gaylon Cude (Centerville, Tenn.) is T-50 at 147 (+5).

Austin Peay’s Justin Metzger leads the individual chase at 10 under par 132. Boise State’s Troy Merritt established a new course record with his morning round of eight under par 63. It was equaled in the afternoon by Akron’s Blake Sattler.

All told, exactly half the field – 32 of the 64 golfers – stands at par or better.

The final round will begin Tuesday morning at 8 am CT.