KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – Carsaon-Newman men's golfer Jonathan Kim-Moss (Mississauga, Canada) fired a two-under (70) for the opening round of the Kiawah Island Invitational at the Cougar Point golf course. 

The round is good enough to put Kim-Moss in a tie for 12^th and three strokes away from Chris Fuga of Coker and Spencer Schindler of Flager, who rest tied atop the leaderboard.  

Kim-Moss spent much of Monday afternoon's round at six-under and in contention for the day one lead, but the senior faltered late. 

"We are so close," Carson-Newman head coach John Minor said. "Jonathan played solid but didn't finish like he wanted." 

Carson-Newman sits in 12th with a team total of 297 (+9).  The Eagles are a stroke back of conference foe Newberry.  Armstrong Atlantic is the tournament leader at 11-under.  Every Pirate golfer was at even par or better for the opening round.  Six teams were under par after day one, which Minor said knocks some of the shine off the Eagles' 297.

"The scores are so low, and we had a couple of big numbers that threw things off," Minor said.  "The wind not blowing helped the scores a bit."

Nicklaus Kennedy (London, Ontario) turned in an even-par round with a 72.  That was good enough to drop him into a tie for 22^nd.

"I'm not really disappointed because we're so young," Minor said. "This team is just so weird because of the contrast last year where we were a pretty veteran group.  We're fired up about tomorrow because we feel like we're just on the cusp."

Rafael Jackson finished plus-four (76) for the day.

The Eagles tee off at 8:30 Tuesday morning to complete play at the tournament. 

-CN-