LEXINGTON, KY- After a decent opening round, Watcharakan Chankarn caught fire in the afternoon round of the Transylvania Invitational's opening day of play, and heads into Sunday's final round as the individual leader at five under par. The Greensboro College men's golf team sits in fifth place out of nineteen squads.

Chankarn carded a 74 in his opening round, shooting 37 both in and out. Bogeys on 3 and 15 spoiled what was otherwise a round of 16 pars. After 18 holes, Chankarn and fellow teammate Harris Wilson trailed their teammate Mason Fischer by a stroke for the team lead. 

After another four consecutive pars to open his afternoon round, Chankarn found his groove, tallying birdies at 5 and 6, and another at 9 to make the turn with a three-under 33. He then birdied 10, 11, and 12, before sandwiching a bogey at 15 with two more birdies. When all was said and done, he had fired a masterful 65, seven under for the round and five under par for the tournament. His -5 score leads McDaniel golfers Charlie Dolan (-4), Ethan Crabb and Sean Kelly (both -2) as the only golfers under par through 36 holes.

Chankarn will look to be the first Greensboro golfer to win a tournament since Andreas Huber won the Transylvania Invitational in 2022. 

As a team, Greensboro sits in fifth place at +16, three strokes behind Centre and two in front of Roanoke. As a unit, the Pride fared better in the afternoon, improving on a +11 morning round by shooting +5 in the afternoon session. Zach Corbett (73) and Mason Fischer (75) had strong rounds, while Harris Wilson got off to a hot start by shooting a two-under par 34 on the front nine.

The final round of the Transylvania Open begins tomorrow morning.