STATESBORO, GA. – Henric Bjelke is tied for sixth place individually and Campbell is 10th on the team leaderboard after Friday's opening round of the 44th Schenkel Invitational hosted by Georgia Southern at Forest Heights Country Club.
 
A junior from Oslo, Norway, Bjelke played his final 10 holes 5-under par Friday and matched his season low round with a 3-under-par 69 on the 7123-yard Forest Heights layout.
 
Junior Douglas Nordlof also equaled his season-low round with an even-par 72 and is tied for 36th along with sophomore Tim Holmberg.  Freshmen Erik Johansson stand T69 (77) and 74th (78) respectively.
 
Middle Tennessee is tied with No. 17 Florida on top of the team standings at 11-under 277, four strokes ahead of Kentucky in the 14-team event.  At 2-over 290, Campbell is just four shots out of sixth place and one behind South Carolina (289) after 18 holes.  The Camels lead West Virginia by two shots and NC State by four.
 
Owen Stamper of MTSU and Wisconsin's Daniel Aas share the 18-hole lead at 6-under 66, one stroke ahead of Florida's Parker Bell and NC State's Spencer Oxendine.
 
The Camels will be paired with West Virginia and NC State for Saturday's second round and start from the th tee at 9:00 a.m. Live scoring is available at Golfstat.com.
 
Named for Georgia Southern alum and hall of fame broadcaster Chris Schenkel, the Schenkel Invitational has been a proving ground for some of the game's best players with names like Jay Haas, Andy Bean, Jerry Pate, Andy North, Bob Tway, Scott Verplank, Curtis Strange, Hal Sutton, Mark Calcavecchia, Bill Haas, Billy Horschel, Bubba Watson and Justin Thomas.  Past Schenkel Invitational participants have gone on to win 17 majors, most recently Thomas at the 2017 and 2022 PGA Championships and 2023 Open Championship winner Brian Harman, and 293 PGA TOUR titles.
 
Eleven of the 14 teams in the field enter the event ranked among the nation's top 100 led by No. 17 Florida and No. 25 Mississippi State.