DESTIN, Fla. – Making their fourth straight appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament, the Wittenberg Tigers opened their quest for a first-ever men's golf national championship with a solid opening round, placing 16^th in the 41-team field.

The four-round competition continues Wednesday with another 18 holes for all of the teams in the field. At that point, the field will be pared to the top 15 teams for the third and fourth rounds. Wittenberg has made the cut in two of the last three years, including 2012 when the Tigers finished seventh in the final standings.

Wittenberg shot 304 in the opening round, 20 strokes over par on the challenging Raven course at the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort. It was the fifth-best score on the par-71, 6,854-yard course on Day 1, as the Tigers and some of the other top-ranked teams in the nation will move to the Links course in the second round, which is playing par-72 at a length of 6,636 yards. The final two rounds will be played at the Raven.

In relation to par, Wittenberg stands 16^th after the opening round, but in terms of total score, the Tigers are actually in 14^th place, just ahead of Nebraska Wesleyan and Guilford, both of which played the Links on Day 1. Transylvania has the top score at 288, although the Pioneers are in second place based on score relative to par at +4, two strokes behind Methodist.

Individually, the Tigers were paced by junior David Wetterich (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) with a 73. A second-team All-American by virtue of his 14^th-place finish in 2012, Wetterich stands 21^st after the opening round in 2013.

Sophomore Alex Andrews (Kirtland, Ohio/Gilmour Academy) is tied for 48^th after carding a 75, followed by junior Ben Hogenkamp (Minster, Ohio/Minster) in 66^th with a 76. Senior Craig Osterbrock (Wilmington, Ohio/Wilmington) and freshman Sam Geise (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) rounded things out for the Tigers with matching scores of 80 to stand 117^th in the 210-player field.