James Byrne goes three clear at

Sawgrass with impressive 68

Banchory's James Byrne opened up a three-stroke lead with an impressive round of four-under-par 68 in the John Hayt Collegiate Invitational 54-hole tournament at Sawgrass Country Club, Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida today.
Byrne, pictured right by Cal Carson Golf Agency, a 20-year-old student at Arizona State University, had an eagle 3 at the 536yd eighth and birdies at the fifth, sixth, 11th and 18th. He dropped shots at the 12th and 17th in halves of 32 and 36.
Walker Cup team contender Chris Paisley (Tennessee) from Newcastle is tied ninth on 73, two shots ahead of team-mate Darren Renwick from Worthing and Maidstone's Tom Sherreard (Georgia State).

LEADING FIRST-ROUND SCORES

Par 72, 6955yd

68 James Byrne (Arizona State).

71 Zack Byrne (Coastal Carolina), John Petersen (Louisiana State).

72 Logan Blondell (Georgia Southern), Ryan Brooks (Tulsa), Hunter Hamrick (Alabama), Zack Sucher (Alabama).

Selected scores:

73 Chris Paisley (Tennessee) (jt 9th).

75 Darren Renwick (Tennessee), Tom Sherreard (Georgia State) (jt 24th).

78 Cathal O'Malley (Alabama) (jt 52nd).

79 Jason Shufflebotham (Alabama).

84 players.

Leading teams

290 Arizona State.

296 Louisiana State.

298 Georgia Southern, Alabama.

299 Tennessee, Georgia State.
ends