PELLA, Iowa ­— Knox College senior Pranav Nandakumar carded a 2-under 70 in the opening round of the Central Fall Classic on Monday, leaving him at the top of the leaderboard and the lone player to break par at the Bos Landen Golf Resort. The Prairie Fire ended the round tied for ninth in the 16-team field at 36-over par (324), while the University of Dubuque holds a two-stroke lead over Grinnell College at 11-over.

On a day when the average score was nearly 11-over par on the 6,617-yard, par-72 course, Nandakumar shined, though his round began inauspiciously with a bogey on 10. But he quickly made up for that with birdies on two of the next three holes. Another bogey on 14 brought him back to even par, but over his final 13 holes he made par 11 times and birdied the other two holes to complete his superb round.

The rest of the Knox team found the course a bit difficult to navigate like much of the 87-player field. First-year Jaxson Forman sank a pair of birdies but ended the day with an 84 (+12), tying him for 52nd place. Seniors Saransh Raina and Gabriel Newman each had a birdie on a par-5 hole and turned in a 13-over 85 to complete the Prairie Fire scoring.

• The 2-under 70 is the lowest round for Nandakumar this season and one stroke off his career-best 69 that he carded last spring at the home invitational.
• Junior Nathaniel Zug got off to the best start of the Knox golfers as the only one to par the 10th hole and was 1-under after three before ending with an 88 (+16).

The tournament concludes with the second round that begins on Tuesday morning at 9 a.m.