Barber Tied For 12th After Opening Round Of Jones Cup - AuburnTigers.com

Barber Tied For 12th After Opening Round Of Jones Cup Kyle Kopsick finished the day tied for 20th.

Kyle Kopsick

Feb. 4, 2011

AUBURN - Sophomore Blayne Barber finished Friday's opening round of the Jones Cup tied for 12^th, carding a 4-over 76 at the Ocean Forest Golf Club on Sea Island, Ga.

Junior Kyle Kopsick shot an opening round 77, closing the day tied for 20^th.

Barber, who placed third at the 2010 Jones Cup, fought back from a rocky opening 12 holes that left him at 7-over. The Lake City, Fla., native finished with four birdies and one bogey, trailing leader Jack Fields by six strokes.

"I ended up OK today," said Barber. "The last two years at this tournament it felt like I didn't play that well. Then I see the scores for everyone were super high.

"I finished well today - just six strokes back. There are still two more days of golf out there for me to try and gain some ground."

Kopsick also got off to a slow start, going 4-over through his first five holes. However, the Chicago native found his rhythm, giving up just one more stroke for the remainder of the round, coming in at 5-over.

The local weather on Sea Island did little to keep scores low on a day where 53 of the 89-player field shot 6-over or higher.

"It was cold and misting all day but the wind was really the biggest thing," said Barber. "The temperature was already in the mid-40s. The wind made it feel that much colder. That course definitely plays tougher with the wind."

Also competing at the Jones Cup are freshman Niclas Carlsson (81), tied for 66^th, and sophomore Michael Hebert (83), tied for 74^th.

"This is one of the best amateur tournaments in the world," said Barber. "It is an extremely competitive international field on a good golf course.

"It's nice to be here with my teammates. We played the practice round together but our tee times were kind of spread out. This is a nice tune up for the spring season. We are all very excited to get the college season started up again."

For complete tournament information and tee times, visit www.JonesCupInvitational.com.