A hot finish to Friday’s opening round has Western Kentucky’s men’s golf team tied for fifth and ahead of numerous highly ranked programs at Vanderbilt’s Mason Rudolph Championship in Nashville.

The five Hilltoppers in competition went a combined 7-under par on the back nine Friday at the par-71, 7,100-yard Vanderbilt Legends Club South Course, finishing the day with a 5-under 279 total. That is WKU’s fourth-lowest round of the season.

WKU is tied for fifth with No. 67 Kentucky and trails four programs in the Golfstat Top 90. No. 25 Tennessee leads the field with a 269 total.

The Hilltoppers, who are ranked 99th, are currently ahead of seven competing teams ranked in the top 85, including two squads from fourth-ranked host Vanderbilt.

WKU is also ahead of No. 20 Liberty, No. 41 Marquette, No. 52 Georgia Southern, No. 56 Mississippi State and No. 83 East Tennessee State.

Junior Tom Bevington is tied for sixth individually after tying his career low with a 4-under 67. After starting his round with 12 pars, Bevington finished the day with four birdies on his last six holes.

Bevington is tied for third in the entire tournament in par-3 scoring.

Redshirt senior Billy Tom Sargent also caught fire down the stretch Friday and is tied for 18th following a 2-under 69. Sargent was 1 over through 13 holes but tallied three birdies over the last five holes.

Senior Stuart Easton is tied for 27th with a 1-under 70, and redshirt junior Linus Lo is tied for 52nd with a 2-over 73. Sophomore Chase Landrum carded a 3-over 74, wrapping up play with a birdie and eagle on his final two holes.

Bevington is currently ahead of nine top-100 individuals in the field, while Sargent is ahead of seven of them. 

Kentucky’s Cullan Brown and Tennessee’s Nolan Ray lead the individual standings with a pair of 7-under 64s.

There’s still plenty of work to be done for the Hilltoppers in the three-day event, with the second round slated to start with tee times at 7:30 a.m. CDT on Saturday.