NEED TO KNOW:
Piedmont Leader: MATTHEW ARIZA 
As a Team: 5th of 13
Event Information: 13 teams; 66 golfers
The Course: Laurel Valley Golf Club (Par 72 - 7,151 yards)

LIGONIER, Pa. - The No. 11 Piedmont men's golf team finds itself in the top five after the first 36 holes of the Tartan Invitational, held at Laurel Valley Golf Club in Ligonier, Pennsylvania.

The Lions played the first two rounds Monday, firing a 314 in the morning before improving by 11 shots to a 303 in the second round and jump up to fifth on the team leaderboard in a stacked field. Piedmont's 303 in the second round was second-best out of the 13 teams competing, only trailing Emory's 297.

MATTHEW ARIZA led the Lions on day one, as his second round 1-under 71 marked a Piedmont career-best for the transfer junior and was also the best by a Lion all day.
 

The day got off to a solid start for Ariza who made three birdies out of the first nine holes he played to start the first round. However, after falling back to a 10-over 82 in his opening round, he battled back in the second, making five birdies in the round to jump into the top 15 on the individual leaderboard.

Sophomore JOSH HEBRINK led the Lions in the first round with a 4-over 76 that included two birdies and nothing worse than bogey in another rock solid round for the Minnesota native. Fellow sophomore ERIC PENLAND trailed Hebrink by one, coming in the with a 5-over 77 while MICHAEL CLARDY carded a 79 and Ariza's 82 was the final counting score for the squad.

Joining Ariza in the second round bounceback club was FRED ROBERTS IV, who rebounded from a first round 83 to improve by eight shots to a 3-over 75 in the second.

While Hebrink backed up with an 84 in the second round, Clardy improved to a 78 while Penland stayed in the 70's, posting a 7-over 79 to give the Lions four counting scores in the 70's.

Up next, the Lions will tee it up tomorrow morning for the final round, trailing fourth place by just three shots and second-place Methodist by only 11.

LIONS ON THE LEADERBOARD:

T15	MATTHEW ARIZA (5)	82	71	153
T27	ERIC PENLAND (3)	77	79	156
T30	MICHAEL CLARDY (4)	79	78	157
T32	FRED ROBERTS IV (1)	83	75	158
T41	JOSH HEBRINK (2)	76	84	160

STANDOUT PERFORMANCES:
- Ariza's second round 71 marked his career-best with the Lions.

OF NOTE:
- Three of the four teams Piedmont trails (Emory, Methodist and Carnegie Mellon) are ranked in the top five in the naitonal polls.

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