CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. (Dec. 18, 2018) – Carey Bina didn’t have a single bogey on his card Tuesday at Eagle Trace Golf Club. A hot streak just after the turn – which included four birdies in five holes – helped push him to 6-under 66 for the day and set up a two-shot lead after the opening round of the Dixie Amateur.

Bina hails from Villanova, Pa., and has mostly left his mark in golf farther north. He was T-6 at the Pennsylvania Amateur in 2016 and T-9 at the Pennsylvania Open the following year. In 2017, he also advanced through U.S. Open local qualifying, though not quite to the big dance, and this year was T-4 at the Middle Atlantic Amateur.

Bina is showing he has game, and he spent time honing that game on the National Collegiate Club Golf Association circuit. Bina logged five competitive club-golf starts for Elon University, finishing T-5 at the 2017 spring national championship.

On Tuesday, the closest players to him were Jonathon Cachon of Sunrise, Fla., Jonathan Keppler of Marietta, Ga., and Charles Petrie of the United Kingdom. Each had 4-under 68.

It’s a tight leaderboard after the first round, with the top 17 players all under par. After Colton Godwin, of Ocala, Fla., in solo fifth (3-under 69), six players are tied for sixth with 70 (including AmateurGolf.com player blogger Nicholas Cummings, a Boston College signee) and six more are tied for 12th at 71.

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