Ryan Gerard led the Tar Heels with a 3-under-par 69 and Ryan Burnett, Dougie Ergood and Austin Hitt all shot even-par 72s in the first round of the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational Friday at the Lakeside Course near Atlanta.
Carolina, ranked No. 6 in the country in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Index and 13th by Golfstat, is tied for fourth after round one at 3-under-285.
Pepperdine is 12 under, defending NCAA champion Stanford is 5 under, Duke is 4 under and UNC is tied with UCLA at 3 under.