07/30/2010 - Duke Sports Information

LEWISTON, N.Y. -- Wes Roach and Yaroslav Merkulov each fired even-par 70s on Friday at the 52nd annual Porter Cup. Rising sophomore Brinson Paolini posted a four-over 74 in the third round at the Niagara Falls Country Club (par 70, 6,871 yards).

David Chung, Russell Henley and Jake Katz share the tournament lead at eight-under (202). Chung and Katz each fired five-under 65s on Friday to grab a share of the lead. Nate McCoy is one shot back in fourth place, while Tomas Cocha and Peter Uijlein are tied for fifth at six-under.

Roach, a rising senior from Knoxville, Tenn., got off to a miserable start with four bogeys on the first five holes. He settled in to par the final four holes of the front nine to make the turn at four-over. Roach caught fire at the turn carding birdies on No. 10, No. 11, No. 13 and No. 14 to get back to even-par for the day. He closed with four pars to move into a tie for 68th at nine-over (72-77-70=219).

Merkulov recorded 12 pars, three birdies and three bogeys en route to his even-par 70. Following a bogey on No. 1, he birdied the par-5 third hole and parred the next six holes to fire an even-par 35 on the front nine. He moved into red figures with a birdie on No. 11 but bogeys on No. 12 and No. 16 dropped the incoming freshman to one-over for the day. Merkulov rallied for a birdie on the 189-yard par 3 18th hole and is now tied for 45th with at four-over 214 (72-72-70).

Paolini, the 2010 ACC Freshman of the Year, is 44th at three-over (213) after posting a 74 on Friday. The Virginia Beach, Va., native suffered bogeys on No. 2 and No. 3 and dropped to four-over following a double-bogey on No. 5. Paolini parred the next six holes before carding a bogey on No. 12. He rallied with birdies on No. 13 and No. 14 to get back to three-over but dropped a stroke with a bogey on the closing 18th hole.

The final round of the 2010 Porter Cup begins at 8am on Saturday with live scoring, tee times and statistics available at www.golfstat.com.