HERSHEY, Pa. -- Dominic Sculti shot a blistering four-under 66 in a career day at Hershey Country Club, setting a new conference tournament record and pacing Franklin & Marshall to a 13-stroke lead on Day 1 of the Centennial Conference (CC) Championship. The Diplomats shot a combined 281 for a one-over performance, besting the remainder of the field by a baker's dozen after Friday's round.
F&M finished the day with all four golfers counting towards the team score in the top four individual scores, as Sculti finished in medalist position, followed by Roy Anderson in a tie for second, and Jas Fuhrer and Michael Gallagher in a tie for fourth.
The Diplomats led the entire field with a whopping 17 birdies on the day, more than doubling the second place effort - Swarthmore's eight. A lot of F&M's good fortune came on the longer holes, shooting a round-best -3 on par 5s.
Sculti opened his round with five consecutive pars before an eagle on the 511 yard, par-5 sixth placed him under par for the remainder of the day. Birdies on nine, 14, and 15 helped the sophomore to his best ever score for the Diplomats by four strokes.
Roy Anderson sits five shots behind his teammate in second place, finishing with a 71 on the afternoon. After bogeying three of his first four holes, Anderson recovered with birdies on a trio of par-4 holes to finish just one-over.
Jas Fuhrer finds himself in a tie for fourth after a 72 on his scorecard. The junior birdied three straight holes on the front nine to start -1, but could not keep up the same pace with four bogies on the back side to settle for the two-over.
Michael Gallagher had a similar experience on the front nine, overlapping his three straight birdies with Fuhrer to card an even-par 35 on the front side. After bookending bogies with birdies to open the back nine, the junior finished +2 through the final five holes to knot Fuhrer in the standings.
Shane Lawler carded an 81 to fall into a tie for 25th after Friday's round.
F&M hits the links for the second round of play beginning at 1:03 p.m., with Sculti teeing off first for the Diplomats.
