HERSHEY, Pa. – Franklin & Marshall is in second place after 18 holes at the NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championship. Paced by Jeremy Rubin, the Diplomats shot 298 during the opening round of the 72-hole championship. Skidmore overtook F&M's clubhouse lead, posting a 295 on the Hershey Links.

Rubin birdied holes five, eight and nine, but gave back a pair of shots on the way back in to end the day with a 71. The freshman sits in second place in the 190 golfer field, one stroke under par, and a pair of strokes off of the lead owned by Claremont Mudd Scripps' Tain Lee who shot 69.

Rubin and Lee were the only golfers to wrap up 18 holes under par. The Diplomats round marks Rubin's lowest of the season by two strokes, helping the Diplomats to their second best round of the year. F&M shot 296 in winning the Bent Creek Invitational.

The Diplomats had a pair of sophomores finish in the top 30. Cameron Warner is locked in a seven-way tie for sixth place, one stroke over par. The sophomore shot birdies on one, nine and 18. All four of his bogeys were shot on the back nine. Brendan Mohler is tied with ten golfers for 29th place, four shots above par. Mohler's lone birdie of the day came on nine.

Sophomore, Danny Liebowitz, is tied for 50th place, rounding out the F&M scoring four with a 78 (+6). He was even at the turn, but ran into trouble on the back nine with a pair of bogeys and consecutive double bogeys on 16 and 17. He recovered with a birdie on 18 to close out the day on a high note.

Andrew Woods is tied for 93rd at +9.

Otterbein College is in third place at 300, followed by Greensboro College (301) and Guilford College (303). Defending champion Oglethorpe University is in a tie for eighth place with the University of Texas-Tyler at 307, while top-ranked Methodist University shot 307 as a team and is in 12th place.

Besides Lee and Rubin, the only other golfers to shoot even par were Andrew Townsend of Central College, Brendan Singleton of Skidmore and Scott Pugh of Oglethorpe, each of whom shot 72 at the Hershey Links.

Play resumes tomorrow morning on the Hershey Country Club East Course. Following Wednesday's round, the field of 37 teams will be cut to the top 23 teams and top five individuals not on one of those teams. The Diplomats go off in the last group out, with Rubin on the tee first at 11:10 am. You can follow all of the action on Golfstat's Live Leaderboards.