MOBILE, Ala. - Sophomores NJ Botha and Palmer Yenrick both posted scores in the red on Sunday to help Toledo to an eighth-place standing following the opening round of South Alabama's Mobile Bay Intercollegiate. The tournament is being held at the par-72, 7,212-yard Magnolia Grove Crossings Golf Course.

"NJ and Palmer have both put a lot of time into their games," Head Coach Jeff Roope said. "They are not only diligent with their time, but they practice with a purpose. It was nice to see them get results out of the effort they have put forth..They both drove the ball fairly effectively and hit a bunch of greens."

Botha, who is tied for 10^th after firing a career low two-under 70, began his round on the back nine and registered three straight birdies on No. 14, 15 and 16 to get to two-under. He then closed out his day with 11 straight pars.

Yenrick is tied for 19^th place at one-under par and is competing in his first collegiate tournament. He notched pars on his first eight holes before hitting the turn at one-under after birdieing the 18^th hole. Yenrick was at two-under par before bogeying his second-to-last hole of his day.

Senior Nate Thomson topped the Rockets with five birdies today and is tied for 42^nd place with a two-over par 74. Freshman Barend Botha is tied for 52^nd place at three-over par, while junior Muhammed Afif Mohd Fathi is tied for 64^th place at four-over par.

"Our guys overall had some highlights throughout their rounds," Roope said. "It will be nice to see if they can tighten things up a little bit over the next couple of days and continue the progress they've made."

Toledo will begin tomorrow's second round at Hole No. 10 at 8:00 a.m. CT. The final round of the tourney is set for Tuesday.

TEAM STANDINGS
1. Illinois 274 (-14); 2. Kent State 279 (-9); 3. Louisville 280 (-8); 4. UAB 282 (-6); 5. Indiana 283 (-5); 6. Kansas State 287 (-1); 7. Davidson 289 (+1); 8. Toledo 290 (+2); T9. Western Kentucky 295 (+7); T9. South Alabama 295 (+7); T9. Southern Mississippi 295 (+7); 12. Lipscomb 296 (+8); 13. South Alabama B 297 (+9); 14. Illinois State 300 (+12); 15. Michigan 311 (+23)

TOP FIVE INDIVIDUALS
T1. Adrien Dumont de Chassart (Illinois) 67 (-5); T1. Michael Feagles (Illinois) 67 (-5); T1. Yannick Schuetz (S. Alabama) 67 (-5); T4. Matthias Schmid (Louisville) 68 (-4); T4. Will Kurtz (KSU) 68 (-4)

TOLEDO INDIVIDUALS
T10. NJ Botha 70 (-2); T19. Palmer Yenrick 71 (-1); T42. Nate Thomson 74 (+2); T52. Barend Botha 75 (+3); T64. Muhammed Afif Mohd Fathi 76 (+4)