Georgia Southern ninth at NCAA Columbus Regional
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Georgia Southern golf team posted a 14-over-par 298 and sits in ninth place after the first round of the NCAA Regional at Ohio State’s Scarlet Course on Thursday afternoon.
The Eagles are one shot back of eighth-place San Francisco (+13) and five behind fifth-place Auburn (+9). Texas Tech (+15) is in 10th, a stroke behind GSU. Charlotte (+3) leads the field, and South Carolina (+4) is second, followed by Stanford (+7) and UNLV (+8).
The low five teams and the low individual not on those teams from the six regionals will advance to the finals at the Capital City Club Crabapple Course in Atlanta May 28-June 2.
Scott Wolfes led the way for the Eagles with a 2-over 73, while Hayden Anderson, Will Evans and Christian Humber all posted 75s. Charlie Martin rounded out the group with an 81.
After playing the first five holes a combined 8-over, the Eagles settled into the round and were 7-over and in the top three as Humber, who teed off first, started hole 17.
Humber, Evans, Anderson and Wolfes, whose four scores were counted in the team total, recorded bogeys on the 221-yard par 3, which played the second-toughest on the course today. Evans parred 18, but the other three posted bogeys to finish with a team total of 298.
After bogeying the first two holes, Wolfes got hot and played his next 13 holes at 3-under. The sophomore stalled at the finish and bogeyed his last three holes to finish the day 2-over.
Anderson posted 12 straight pars after bogeying the first hole and finished with 14 pars on the day. The junior bogeyed 14, 17 and 18 to finish 4-over.
Evans played the first seven holes at 4-over but made a run with birdies on 9 and 12. The junior double-bogeyed 14, the toughest hole on the course Thursday, and played the last four holes even to finish 4-over.
Humber was 4-over after the first 10 holes before rattling off birdies on 15 and 16 to move to 2-over. The junior bogeyed 17 and 18 to finish +4.
Martin, who struggled off the tee all day, admirably grinded his way to play the first 13 holes at 4-over. But the sophomore double-bogeyed 14 and tripled 17 to finish 10-over.
Chattanooga 12th at NCAA Columbus Regional
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Chattanooga Mocs men’s golf team struggled to score in the opening round of the NCAA Columbus Regional on the Scarlet Course on Thursday. UTC shot 304 with a season-low four birdies.
The 304 puts the Mocs in 12th, one shot behind Virginia at 303. Charlotte leads the event through 18 holes at 287 (+3). The 49ers lead No. 20 South Carolina (288) by one and No. 8 Stanford (291) by four. UNLV is another shot back in fourth at 292, while Auburn is in fifth at 293.
UTC was in pretty fair shape through 12 holes at 10-over par. But the final six were a struggle. The squad recorded just one birdie, dropping 10 shots in the process to end its day at +20.
Steven Fox had Chattanooga’s low round with a 2-over par 73. He was minus-1 through 13 holes with one birdie and 13 pars. Bogeys on 14, 15 and 17 relegated him to the plus-2 finish.
Liam Johnston is one off Fox’s pace after a 74. Davis Bunn and Chris Robb rounded out the counting scores with a 78 and 79, respectively.
Charlotte’s Raoul Menard sits atop the individual leaderboard after a 4-under par 67. Carl Jonson (UNLV) and Will Starke (South Carolina) are tied for second at minus-3.
The second 18 starts on No. 10 Friday morning for the Mocs, who are paired with Texas Tech and Virginia. Benni Weilguni starts off at 8:50 a.m., followed by Robb (9:00), Bunn (9:10), Johnston (9:20) and Fox (9:30).
College of Charleston duo at NCAA Baton Rouge Regional
BATON ROUGE, La. – Junior Alex Ellis and freshman Josh Lorenzetti completed their first round at the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional on Thursday at the University Club.
Ellis fired a 2-over 74 and is tied for 13th place, while Lorenzetti carded a 5-over 77 and is tied for 42nd place.
Ellis shot even-par over his first nine holes, ran into some trouble with four bogeys on the back nine, but finished with a birdie and two pars on his last three holes to complete the round.
Lorenzetti shot 2-over on the front nine then made five consecutive pars until bogeys on 15 and 16. He then rebounded and made birdie on the par-5 17th hole.
The top five teams and the low individual not on an advancing team will qualify for the NCAA Championship. Currently Ellis is the seventh-best individual on a non-advancing team and is two strokes off the low individual on a non-advancing team.
The course played fairly difficult in the opening round of the tournament as the average score was 76.77 of the 75 completed rounds and only two holes averaged under par.
Ellis will tee off from hole 10 at 11:10 a.m. ET Friday with Lorenzetti to follow in the next group at 11:20 a.m.
Davidson’s Fountain tied for 30th at NCAA Tallahassee Regional
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Davidson’s Richard Fountain carded a 1-under 71 in the opening round of the 2013 NCAA Men’s Golf Regional to sit in a tie for 30th Thursday afternoon at Golden Eagle Golf & Country Club.
Fountain was one of 40 players to record a score of par or better on the 6,965-yard, par-72 layout.
Making his second NCAA appearance as an individual competitor, Fountain finished the day with five birdies and four bogeys en route to his seventh sub-par round of the season.
In addition to rolling in a short birdie putt on the second, Fountain converted another on the par-4 sixth to move to minus-2. The junior also birdied the eighth but dropped shots on the previous hole and lengthy par-5 ninth to make the turn at 1-under 35.
After beginning the back nine with consecutive pars, the 2011 Southern Conference champion took advantage of the 135-yard 12th with a birdie to get back to 2-under. Fountain played his final six holes in 1-over, highlighted by a birdie on the 15th.
No. 18 North Florida, one of eight nationally ranked teams in the field, fired a 272 (-16) to grab the top spot on the team leaderboard. No. 6 Washington is four back following a 276 (-12), while the host Seminoles are currently third at 11-under (277).
The Osprey’s MJ Maguire opened with a 7-under 65 and will enter the second round with a one-stroke advantage over Anders Albertson (Georgia Tech) and Chase Seiffert (Florida State).
The NCAA Division I Men's Golf Regional is a preliminary round of the NCAA Division I Men's Championship. The Tallahassee Regional consists of a 54-hole tournament with 13 teams and 10 individual players. The low five teams and low individual not included on those five teams will advance to the NCAA Championship that runs May 28-June 2 at Capital City Club Crabapple Course in Atlanta, Ga.
Western Carolina’s Poston tied for 30th at NCAA Tallahassee Regional
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Western Carolina sophomore J.T. Poston carded four birdies on the back nine of his opening round on Thursday to stand tied for 30th after 18 holes at the NCAA Men’s Golf Tallahassee regional at the par-72, 6,965-yard Golden Eagle Golf Club.
Poston will again be paired with a golfer from the Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) champion Loyola-Maryland squad in Jon Ross (t-60th) and Augusta State individual Alex Wennstam (t-30th) in Friday’s second round. The threesome will tee off in the 10 a.m. pairing, beginning on the back nine on hole No. 10.
Poston bookended his first nine holes with bogeys on the first and ninth holes, enduring a three-putt bogey on the final hole. He carded seven pars to make the turn at 2-over. The Hickory, N.C., native parred the first two holes of his back nine before back-to-back birdies on the 135-yard, par-3 No. 12 and 405-yard, par-4 No. 13 moved him back to even for the round.
Another birdie on the 527-yard, par-5 No. 15 moved him to 1-under until a bogey on No. 17 put him back at even par before birdying the 532-yard No. 18 to finish at 1-under for the round. On both the 15th and 18th holes, Poston reached the green in two on both par-5s.
All told, Poston recorded 11 pars in his first NCAA postseason round, recording two saves on holes No. 5 and 16 with putts of around 10 feet on both to keep momentum.