No. 12 Auburn In Third, Barber Tied For Lead At The Carpet Capital - AuburnTigers.com

No. 12 Auburn In Third, Barber Tied For Lead At The Carpet Capital All Five Tigers Finished Round One In The Top 25.

Sept. 10, 2010

ROCKY FACE, Ga. - The 12th-ranked Auburn men's golf team shot an opening round 285 (-3) and is in third following Friday's opening round of the Carpet Capital Collegiate at The Farm Golf Club in Rocky Face, Ga.

Sophomore Blayne Barber (67) finished the day tied for the lead at 5-under with Clemson's David Dannelly.

"We'd like to be leading, but we played pretty well," said Auburn head coach Nick Clinard. "We were about 7- or 8- under with a few holes left today but a few late mistakes cost us some strokes. Overall it was a good day. We still have lot of work to do to get to where we want to be. Blayne (Barber) obviously had a great showing with some beautiful tee to green play. He's an exceptional player."

Barber finished the day leading the field in par-4 scoring, averaging 3.60 strokes per attempt. The Lake City, Fla., native carded nine birdies on the day.

Sophomore David Zickler (72) is tied for 16th. Juniors Will McCurdy (73) and Kyle Kopsick (73) and sophomore Michael Hebert (73) are tied for 23rd.

"David (Zickler) played great round of golf today. He could have easily shot 68. There were just a few easily correctable errors that cost him in the end. He's pretty close to getting to where he wants to be as a well rounded and competitive golfer."

The Tigers trail round one leader No. 7 Alabama (280) by five strokes. No. 23 Clemson (283) is in second followed by Auburn, No. 17 Georgia Tech (287), No. 3 Georgia (288), Wake Forest (289), Chattanooga (290), No. 24 Tennessee (294), East Tennessee State (295), South Carolina (298), No. 22 Texas Tech (300) and Ole Miss (311).

The three-day, 54-hole event resumes Saturday as Auburn tees off the back nine at 9 a.m. EST with Ole Miss and Chattanooga. Live scoring will be made available via www.GolfStat.com.