East Carolina golfer takes first-round lead in Rice Planters Amateur

MOUNT PLEASANT — Zachary Edmonson, who just completed his junior season at East Carolina, shot a 7-under-par 65 Wednesday to take the first-round lead in the 40th Rice Planters Amateur golf tournament at Snee Farm Country Club.

Edmonson is one shot ahead of Clemson’s Thomas Bradshaw and UNC Wilmington’s Thomas Bass. Kyle Kochevar, an incoming freshman at Virginia, is fourth at 67.

Defending champion Austin Cody of North Charleston, two-time winner Bert Atkinson of Charleston and College of Charleston golfer Alex Ellis are part of an eight-player logjam tied for eighth after 3-under-par 69s.

Edmonson reeled off seven birdies through 14 holes before bogeying the par-4 15th. But he got that stroke back with a birdie on the par-5 16th for nines of 32 and 33.

Bradshaw, a former S.C. Junior champion from Columbia, birdied 2, 5, 6 and 9 with a bogey on No. 8 for a 33 on the front nine, then posted birdies at 10, 13 and 16 for a closing 33.

Bass, the Colonial Athletic Association’s golfer of the year, managed to avoid bogeys, making birdies at 3, 4, 8 and 9 for an opening 32. He added two more birdies on the back, at 10 and 16.

The 72-hole tournament continues through Saturday.