Chattanoogans Paul Apyan and Brooks Thomas shot 65 and 66 in the first round Tuesday of the 2019 Tennessee State Open golf tournament at the GreyStone course in Dickson. That had Apyan tied for third place with Franklin amateur Trey Tobias and Thomas, who played for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, sharing fifth with Ben Wolcott of Burns and amateur Jack Rhea of Jonesborough. Amateurs Hunter Wolcott of Burns and Austin Lancaster of Hendersonville were first and second at 63 and 64. Former Rhea County standout Hunter Green and current UTC player Alex Cobb were in the big group tied for 15th at 68. Dalton State's Ben Rebne shot 69.
* Recently graduated UTC golfer Etienne Brault qualified Monday for this week's PGA Tour event, the RBC Canadian Open at the Hamilton Golf & Country Club in Ontario. Brault, a native of Quebec, will be in the field with another UTC alumnus, PGA Tour regular Stephan Jaeger. Brault got in by tying for second with a 70 in the qualifier at Heron Point Golf Links. UTC's Oliver Simonsen, who won this year's Signal Mountain Invitational, begins play today in the Dogwood Invitational at Druid Hills in suburban Atlanta.
* Bryan Lee, Caleb Surratt and three girls took the first-round leads Tuesday in the annual Evitt Foundation RTC Junior All-Star tournament at WindStone Golf Club. Lee, who is from Fairfax, Virginia, and Surratt from Indian Trail, North Carolina, shot 3-under-par 68s in the boys' division of the American Junior Golf Association event. Tied at 69 were Collins Trolio of West Point, Mississippi, and four Georgians: Bruce Murphy of Johns Creek, Anish Reddy of Duluth, Ethan Smith of Marietta and Kyle Bachkosky of Peachtree City. Alpharetta's Ethan Gao shared eighth place at 70 with Tomek Pickrell of Texas and Jay Leng Jr. of California. Ooltewah resident Sheldon McKnight and Dalton's Wyatt Brackett were in a four-way tie for 14th at 72. The girls' tri-leaders - Ava Merrill of Johns Creek, Californian Faith Low and Lily Bloodworth of Hendersonville, Tennessee - opened with 67s, two strokes better than Brooke Ryback of San Diego and Yoko Tai from Singapore. Texan Lauren Nguyen was sixth at 70. Hannah Nall from Cleveland was tied for 20th at 82.