HUMBLE, Texas – Sylas Elliott carded a 4-under-par 68 Friday in the opening round of Houston's All-American Intercollegiate, leading a contingent of four University of South Alabama men's golfers who shot par or better over the first 18 holes of the event.

Yannick Schütz and Rasmus Karlsson also broke par with scores of 70 and 71, respectively, while Brooks Rabren posted a 72 with Peter Staalbo one stroke behind him.   Their efforts gave the Jaguars a 7-under-par 281 total, putting the team in a tie for fifth among the 18 schools in the field.

Eighth-ranked Auburn and the host Cougars are tied for the lead at the end of the first day of play with 14-under-par 274 totals.  AU's Brandon Mancheno fired a 7-under-par 65 to sit atop the individual standings by a two-stroke margin after 18 holes.

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Event (host): All-American Intercollegiate (Houston)
Date: 2/16
Course: Golf Club of Houston (par 72, 7,096 yds)
Live scoring: http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=13487

TEAM SCORES
1) Auburn 274 (-14); T1) Houston 274; 3) Ole Miss 276; 4) Baylor 279; T5) South Alabama 281; T5) South Carolina 281; T5) North Texas 281;  8) Sam Houston State 285; T9) Wake Forest 286; T9) Southern Methodist 286; T11) Rice 290; T11) Texas-San Antonio 290; T13) McNeese State 292; T13) Southeastern Louisiana 292; 15) Charlotte 294; 16) Georgia State 295; 17) Cincinnati 296; 18) Lamar 297.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
1) Brandon Mancheno, AU 65 (-7); T2) Josh Seiple, OM 67; T2) Thomas Rosenmueller, NT 67; T2) Papito Gonzalez, UH 67; T5) Sylas Elliott, USA 68; T5) Noah Steele, SHSU 68; T5) Matthew Perrine, BU 68; T5) Garrett May, BU 68; T5) Mario Carmona, Rice 68; T5) Keenan Huskey, USC 68.

SOUTH ALABAMA SCORES
T5) Sylas Elliott 68 (-4); T22) Yannick Schütz 70; T31) Rasmus Karlsson 71; T39) Brooks Rabren 72; T49) Peter Staalbo 73.

TEE SHOTS
-It marks the first time since shooting a season-best 274 in the afternoon at the Jerry Pate National on Oct. 9 that the Jaguars have had four individuals shoot par or better in the same round.
-It was the seventh time this season that Elliott has shot par or lower in a round, the best figure on the squad.
-The senior paced the Jags with five birdies — including three on his first five holes — to play each side of the course at 2 under.
-Schütz and Karlsson have now broken par in each of their last three rounds.
-The former was 2-under-par over his opening nine holes, while the latter played his back nine at 2 under as well.
-Rabren fired a bogey-free 33 after making the turn, posting birdies on the first, second and eighth holes.
-As a group, the five Jaguars were 7-under par on the front side of the course.
-The field this weekend includes 99 individuals.

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Ben Hannan
On the Jaguars' play in the first round of the event: "The guys played really solid today, everybody was in the game; that's what happens when we play our best golf as a group."
On Sylas Elliott's performance: "Sylas got out of the gate really well making some birdies early on, and he made a couple of saves in the middle of the round to keep the momentum.  He was able to close with a long birdie putt on No. 6, which helped get him to the clubhouse at 4-under par."
On how the team can continue its recent play: "The guys are playing well, obviously, they are coming off of a really good round in the last event in Mobile and followed it up with another solid performance today.  We need to continue to play good golf, stay patient and hopefully take advantage of opportunities when presented.  When you're playing well sometimes you try to press, we need to continue to focus on the shot in front of us and keep executing at a high rate."

Up next: Second-round play at the All-American Intercollegiate will begin at 8:30 a.m. (CST) on Saturday.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the Birdie Club — the men's golf specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund. All donations to the Birdie Club go directly to support the South Alabama men's golf program. For more information on how you can join visit:  jaguarathleticfund.com/birdieclub.

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