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Mt. Pleasant, S.C. – Aiken, SC native Dane Burkhart and Scott Weatherly of Fort Payne, AL fired rounds of 2-under-par 70 in the first round of the Tarheel Tour’s Rivertowne Open at Rivertowne Country Club in Mt. Pleasant, SC on Tuesday. Burkhart, a two-time winner on the Tarheel Tour, got off to a sizzling start on the more benign front nine as he made the turn in 4-under-par 32. After a birdie on the 580-yard par-5 11th, Burkhart dropped shots at Nos. 14, 15, and 17 as the already-steady wind began to gain strength, making late morning scoring very difficult; however, he righted the ship and parred the difficult 480-yard par-4 18th to record the only under par round of the morning wave. Weatherly, a Nationwide Tour member from 2005 through 2007, recorded four birdies and two bogeys as he played in the most brutal conditions of the day, finishing just before play was called for the day at 5:04 p.m. due to lightning. Trailing Burkhart and Weatherly by just one shot is Cameron Yancey of Blackstone, VA. Yancey, much like Burkhart, got off to a torrid start by recording four birdies in his first six holes before finally finishing with a very respectable 1-under-par 71.
Also in the hunt at even par is Boiling Springs, SC native Will McGirt. McGirt, who finished second on the 2007 Tarheel Tour money list, shot even-par 72 in the first group out at 7:30 a.m. off No. 10. McGirt offset three bogeys and a double-bogey with five birdies to match par for the round. Joining McGirt in a tie for fourth place is Kevin Haefner, last year’s Match Play Champion Kevin Kisner, and former Wake Forest standout Chris Yoder. Yoder played as close to an error-free round as can be expected in such difficult conditions as he managed 14 pars and two birdies, which were offset by two bogeys. Notable players who shot 1-over-par 73 on Tuesday include Tarheel Tour veteran David Robinson and 2007 Tour Championship winner Richard Scott.
Of the 85 rounds completed on Tuesday, the scoring average was 77.60 with the field a combined 476-over par. The first round will resume at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning, with the second round beginning at 8:30 a.m.