FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Loyola University Maryland's Evan Brown used the strength of a 6-under par opening round to finish the first 36 holes of the Fort Lauderdale Intercollegiate in second place on Monday, shooting 9-under 135.
 
As a team, Loyola is second at 5-under 571 at the Fort Lauderdale Country Club's North Course. Lynn University leads the tournament with a two-round total of 21-under par. The Greyhounds are one shot up on Florida Atlantic University, two on 40^th-ranked South Florida University, Western Carolina University and Davidson College.
 
Brown had two sets of back-to-back birdies on his first nine Monday, playing the front at 4-under after birding the second, third, sixth and seventh holes. He got to 7-under for the opening 18 with birdies at 13, 14 and 17 before a bogey on the final hole set him back to 6-under for the round.
 
The 6-under 66 matched his low-round of 2019-20, a score he shot in the final round of last week's Loyola Intercollegiate in Goodyear, Arizona.
 
Brown continued his low scoring to start the second round when he eagled the 402-yard par-4 first hole and birdied the second. Despite starting 3-under for those holes, he was at 1-under for his round after 10 thanks to consecutive bogeys on nine and 10. He birdied the 504-yard, par-5 14^th and finished with a birdie on the 18^th to complete his second round at 3-under
 
He trails only Carlos Bustos of Lynn who shot 5-under in both rounds to get to 10-under for the tournament.
 
Brandon Berry and Brett Inserra are both tied for 16^th after 36 holes with matching 1-over 145 scores. Both had over-par rounds on the first 18 before turning it around in the afternoon.
 
Inserra was even for the second round before a birdie on the 16^th helped him get to 1-under 71 for the round.
 
Berry made the turn at 2-under with birdies on the fifth and eighth before a bogey on the 12^th pushed him back a stroke. He quickly rebounded with birdies on the 13^th and 14^th holes and finished with four pars to finish at 3-under 69 for his best competitive round since September.
 
Carlo Pizzano put together an even-par round in the first, birding the final two holes of the course to get level. He shot 3-over on the back nine of the second round, however, and is tied for 36^th at 4-over for the tournament.
 
Turner Foster shot 9-over in the first round, 7-over in the second and is 76^th overall.
 
Mike McCarthy played as an individual and is tied for 65^th at 11-over.
 
The Greyhounds also had a second team entered in the tournament, a group led by Preston Ball's even-par second round and 4-over for the tournament. Ball is tied for 39^th.
 
Nick Mejia highlighted the day for Loyola, dropping in a hole-in-one on the 217-yard, par-3 fourth hole. It was the Greyhounds' first competition hole-in-one since March 2015 when Bennett Wisner aced the fifth hole at the Middleburg Bank Intercollegiate at Kingsmill Resort's River Course in Williamsburg, Virginia.
 
The ace was Mejia's lone sub-par hole of the round as he shot 5-over.
 
Matt Malits's shot 2-over in the morning and 4-over on the second 18 and is tied for 48^th overall. Trent Geritz shot 9-over and 4-over and tied for 70^th, while Sasha Sparacino is tied for 73^rd after rounds of 10-over and 4-over.