Oct. 25, 2009

WINDERMERE, Fla. - Junior Nils Floren fired an opening-round 69 and is one shot off of the lead at the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational at Isleworth Golf & Country Club in Windermere, Fla. The No. 22 Texas Tech Red Raiders are in fifth place and are seven shots back.

Floren was two over after back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 3 and 4, before closing his front nine with four straight birdies. Another birdie on a flawless back nine propelled Floren into a fourth-place tie with two other golfers. Three players are tied atop the leaderboard.

"It felt good today," Floren said. "My biggest thing was being patient. I started off rough but then I birdied 6, 7, 8, 9. I hit the ball well, I just had putting problems. I had to wait on my putts to go in. I did that and birdied 14 as well."

Redshirt freshman Finley Ewing is tied in 12th place after shooting even on the day, while sophomore Brian Scherer carded a 3-over 75 and is tied in 23rd place with the nation's top-ranked golfer, Trent Whitekiller of Oklahoma State. Freshman Drew Dorsey, playing in his first collegiate event for Tech, is tied in 57th place with an 8-over 80, while senior Chris Ward struggled on the round with a 9-over 81.

"We played pretty solidly," Tech Head Coach Greg Sands said. "Nils played great shooting a 69. You can't win a tournament on the first day, but you can lose it, and we didn't do that - that's good. To be in contention with the last nine holes is what we need to do. Obviously, Finley played great and Nils shooting a 69 sure helped out the team, especially with Drew playing his first tournament and Chris struggling, which I didn't expect."

Stanford (289) holds a one-shot lead over TCU (290) and a two-stroke advantage over top-ranked Oklahoma State (291). Florida (292) and Texas Tech (296) are in fourth and fifth places at 4- and 8-over, respectively, while Alabama (299) is 10 shots off the lead in sixth place.

Second-ranked Arizona State (301) is seventh, followed by South Carolina (302), defending champion Georgia (304) and Illinois (306). Clemson (307), UCF (308), Washington (308), East Tennessee State (309) and Kentucky (317) round out the field of 15.

Second round play begins at 8 a.m. ET Monday with the third and final round teeing off at 8 a.m. Tuesday. Live scoring throughout the event is available at www.golfstat.com.