Roundup: UNC player takes lead in Delaware Amateur

Douglass Ergood, a 21-year-old who plays for the University of North Carolina, fired a five-under par 66 to take a two-shot lead after the first round of the 70th annual DSGA Delaware Amateur golf tournament on Monday.

Four players shot in the 60s on the opening day of the 72-hole event, which is being played at Newark Country Club.

Rij Patel and Ford Bennett are tied for second with 66s while Rehoboth Beach’s Jay Whitby is fourth with a 69. The 34-year-old Whitby, from Wyoming, is the only Delaware resident in the top four.

Ergood, from Mount Laurel, New Jersey, picked up an eagle two on No. 11 and carded six other birdies against three bogeys in his round. Patel and Bennett, both from Maryland, collected five birdies apiece.

A former Caesar Rodney High standout, Whitby played the front nine at two-under par before posting a birdie and bogey on the back. Whitby won the Amateur three years in a row (2015-17) and has captured the title four times in all.

Matthew Hall, a 32-year-old from Maple Dale, is in a five-way tie for ninth after posting an even-par 71. After playing the front nine at four-under par, Hall ran off a string of four straight birdies on holes 14-17.

The field will be cut to the top 36 players after Tuesday’s round. The tournament is then slated to conclude with 36 holes on Wednesday.

Newark Country Club, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, is hosting the Delaware Amateur for the fifth time and for the first time since 1990. The field of 99 players represent 27 member clubs and ranges in age from 19-68.

American Legion

Post 2 hosting Nanticoke: Dover’s Fox Post 2 is slated to host Nanticoke Post 6 today in an American Legion baseball game. The contest is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Dover High.

The two teams played last week with Fox Post 2 (1-1) rallying from a 3-0 first-inning deficit to pull out a 4-3 win. Nanticoke Post 6 owns a record of 0-2.

There are six teams playing American Legion baseball in the state this summer after last season was canceled by the pandemic.

College triathlon

DSU adds Lucas to roster: Asia Lucas, a former member of Delaware State’s track and field/cross country teams, has signed up to compete for the Hornets’ triathlon program.

Lucas is the sixth student-athlete on the DSU roster.

Lucas joins Danielle Fleurima of Chillicothe, OH, Chara Hinds of Bridgetown, Barbados, Jenna Blauser of Karns City, Pa., Pamela Hernandez Quevedo of Mexico City, Mex., and Nola Woods of Lincoln, Neb., on the inaugural Delaware State women’s triathlon team.