March 14, 2005

ROCK HILL, S.C. - George Mason junior Mike Kirby (Virginia Beach, Va./Kempsville) fired a 71 to earn co-leader status following first round action (Monday) at the Winthrop Waterford Invitational, held at the Waterford Golf Course in Rock Hill, S.C. As a team, the Patriots sit in sixth place overall out of 15 teams with a 305 team score, which is 11 strokes behind Tennessee Tech (294). The final round takes place Tuesday.

Kirby, who is tied with Western Carolina's Matt Cook and Jackson State's Pat Kelly, shot 37 on the front-nine and an impressive 34 on the back-nine to tie for the individual lead. Mason sophomore Dan Hurley (Leesburg, Va./Loudoun County) is tied for 12th after the first round with a score of 74. Freshmen David Murnane (Millersville, Md./Severna Park) and Ryan Younger (Madison, Wis./Madison Memorial) are tied in 47th place. Sophomore Trey Bressler (Fairfax, Va./Robinson Secondary) is 69th.

WINTHROP WATERFORD INVITATIONAL
Par 72/6788 yards, Rock Hill, N.C. (1st Round)
1. Tennessee Tech (294)
2. Gardner-Webb (299)
3. Lipscomb (300)
4. Jackson State (303)
5. Birmingham Southern (304)
6. George Mason (305)
7. Western Carolina (306)
8. High Point (308)
9. Winthrop (309)
10. Detroit Mercy (312)
11. Liberty (313)
12. Stetson (321)
13. New York (325)
T14. Citadel (326)
     Radford (326)
TOP TEN INDIVIDUALS
1. Mike Kirby (Mason)  71
    Pat Kelly (JSU)  71
    Matt Cook (WCU)  71
4. Eric Anderson (TTU)  72
   Aaron Summers (RU)  72
   Matt Jeffers (unattached)  72
7. Braxton Hunter (TTU)  73
   Rory McCaughna (G-WU)  73
   Todd Armstrong (G-WU)  73
   John Quinn (BSU)  73