Ben Jordan of Greensboro and Brandon Einstein of Clemmons shot 4-under-par 68 Tuesday, two strokes behind the leaders in the first round of the 102nd Carolinas Open at The Cliffs at Mountain Park in Marietta, South Carolina.
Jordan, who recently finished his collegiate career at Wofford College, was coming off a course-record 63 in the final round of the Carolinas Amateur last week at Governors Club.
Einstein, an assistant pro at Tanglewood who moved to Diamond Creek in Banner Elk, won the North Carolina Open last year at Forsyth Country Club with a bogey-free 18-under 195 score for 54 holes.
Jordan and Einstein trail eight players at the crowded top of the leaderboard.
Michigan State player Luke Mueller of Wake Forest and Gardner-Webb’s Casey Kosney of Spartanburg, S.C., grabbed shares of the lead with pros Phillip Yribarren of Asheville and Trace McDonald of Sumter, S.C., at 66.
The 54-hole tournament with a 150-player field concludes Thursday.
