Georgia Southern seventh at NCAA San Antonio Regional
SAN ANTONIO – Senior Hayden Anderson shot a 2-under-par 70 while classmate Will Evans posted a 72 to lead Georgia Southern to a seventh-place standing after the first day of the NCAA Men’s Golf Championships San Antonio Regional at Briggs Ranch Golf Club on Thursday.
Georgia Southern (+3) is one stroke behind TCU (+2) and UCLA (+2), which are tied for fifth, and three strokes behind SMU (E) and Central Florida (E), which are tied for third.
Anderson is tied for sixth in the individual standings, three strokes off the lead held by TCU’s Julien Brun (-5) and SMU’s Bryson Dechambeau (-5). Evans is tied for 15th.
The top five teams and the top individual not on those teams advance to the NCAA Men’s Golf Championships at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kansas, May 23-28.
Georgia (-7) leads the field, and College of Charleston (-3) is second. Georgia State (+4) is one stroke behind the Eagles in eighth place, and Vanderbilt (+7) is in ninth. South Florida (+8) rounds out the logjam stretching from third to 10th.
Scott Wolfes shot a 74 for the Eagles, and Charlie Martin posted a 75. Matthew Mierzejewski carded a 77.
Georgia Southern got off to a bit of a rough start and was 6-over as a team as it made the turn. The Eagles finished strong, and Thursday’s four counters notched nine birdies combined and played the final eight holes 5-under-par.
Anderson and Evans led the charge, both playing the back nine at 2-under. Anderson posted three of his team-leading five birdies of the day with just one bogey, and Evans also logged three birdies and a bogey on the back.
After shooting 3-over on the front with a double-bogey on hole 9, Wolfes cleaned things up and played the back nine 1-under with birdies on holes 12 and 14 and a bogey on 15.
Martin played the front nine at 1-over but was hurt by a double-bogey on hole 10. He bogeyed hole 15 to fall to 4-over but rallied to sink a 12-foot birdie putt on 18.
Mierzejewski, who has not played in a tournament for the Eagles since the win at the Schenkel Invitational in March, had to shake off the rust on the front. Hurt by a double-bogey on hole 6, the junior made the turn at 5-over but rallied to play his final nine holes of the day at even par.
Action at the three-day, 54-hole tournament continues Friday, and Georgia Southern will be paired with Georgia State and Vanderbilt. The Eagles will tee off hole 10 at 9 a.m. Eastern, and the order will be: Mierzejewski, Martin, Wolfes, Evans and Anderson.
UNCG seventh at NCAA Auburn Regional
AUBURN, Ala. – The UNCG men’s golf team turned in a solid first round of the 2014 NCAA Auburn Regional on Thursday, posting a 10-over-par 298 in windy conditions to sit in seventh place overall in the 54-hole event at the Auburn University Club.
The top five teams in the regional will advance to the NCAA Championships. Round two of the three-day, 54-hole event will be held Friday, with the Spartans set for tee times between 8-8:40 a.m. on hole No. 10.
Defending national champion and current No. 1 Alabama owns the 18-hole lead after recording a 1-under-par 287 as the only team under par on day one. No. 13 Texas is second with a 5-over-par 293 and host No. 23 Auburn is 6-over at 294. Rounding out the top five is No. 48 Colorado at 296, while No. 37 Kennesaw State and No. 49 Louisville are tied for fourth at 297. The Spartans are just one shot out of the top five and only four shots out of second place.
Sophomore Taylor Coalson led the Spartans on day one with a 1-under-par 71. Coalson is tied for fourth overall in the individual standings, just two shots off first-round leader Robin Sciot-Siegrist at 3-under-par 69. He is just one of 10 golfers that posted an under-par score Thursday, as he posted five birdies on the day to go along with his four bogeys.
Junior Roy Dixon is tied for 11th overall after carding an even-par 72. Dixon was consistent all day long with 12 par scores to go along with his three birdies and three bogeys. Dixon opened with birdies in two of the first four holes before moving over par with three bogeys. He got back to even with a strong birdie on his 17th hole, the par-3 hole No. 8.
Freshman Carter Jenkins was third on the day with a 5-over 77. Jenkins was just 1-over-par through the first 13 holes before dropping four strokes on the final five holes. Sophomore Luke Haithcock notched a 6-over-par 78, while freshman Jake McGlone rounded out the lineup with a 7-over-par 79.
The low five teams and the low individual not on those teams from each regional will advance to the finals. The finals will be conducted May 23-28 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kansas, with Wichita State acting as the host institution.
Chattanooga tied for eighth at NCAA Eugene Regional
EUGENE, Ore. – Chattanooga Mocs senior Chris Robb opened the NCAA Eugene Regional with a 3-under-par 67 and is tied for second place after 18 holes at Eugene Country Club. Robb’s effort keyed the Mocs’ 295 total, with the team standing tied for eighth with Liberty and Wichita State.
The trio is just one shot behind Baylor in seventh at 294. They lead 11th-place ETSU (296) by one and are four clear of Tennessee in 12th at 299.
Robb came into the regional with 38 consecutive bogey-free holes. That streak ended after 43 holes, when the Scot bogeyed the par-4 15th, his sixth hole of the day. He posted a birdie on the par-4 17th to turn at even par.
After three straight pars, Robb tallied three birdies in a four-hole stretch on three, four and the par-5 fifth, draining one from 12 feet. His 67 is the Mocs’ best NCAA Regional round since Stephan Jaeger (2009-12) and Steven Fox (2010-13) turned in scores of 66 and 67, respectively, in the final round of the Mocs’ win at the 2012 Bowling Green Regional.
Liam Johnston turned in a 73 Thursday followed Ewan Scott at 75. Davis Bunn and Wes Gosselin each carded 80s. The average score Thursday for all 75 golfers was 73.84, with Chattanooga’s average on the four counting scored coming in at 73.75.
The Mocs begin on the 10th hole again in Friday’s second round at 11 a.m., Eastern time. Bunn leads off, with Gosselin (11:11), Scott (11:22), Johnston (11:33) and Robb (11:44) right behind. The team is paired with Baylor and Liberty.
Davidson’s Fountain tied for 26th at suspended NCAA Raleigh Regional
RALEIGH, N.C. – Shortly after Davidson’s Richard Fountain hit his approach shot at the par-4 ninth hole, the opening round of the 2014 NCAA Raleigh Regional was suspended due to rain and will resume Friday at 11:30 a.m.
The three-day, 54-hole event hosted by NC State is being played on the par-71, 7,213-yard Lonnie Poole Golf Course.
Playing in his third NCAA tournament as an individual competitor, Fountain is currently at even par after eight holes. The 2011 Southern Conference Champion and three-time all-league performer birdied two of his first four holes but gave strokes back at the par-3 second and sixth holes.
The second round will begin 30 minutes following each group’s completion of round one.
Western Carolina’s Poston tied for 26th at suspended NCAA Raleigh Regional
RALEIGHT, N.C. – Play in the opening round of NCAA Raleigh Regional at the par-71, 7,213-yard Lonnie Poole Golf Course was suspended due to heavy rains on Thursday and will resume late on Friday morning with the second round to follow. Western Carolina junior J.T. Poston sits in a tie for 26th-place, just over halfway through his first 18 holes.
Golfers were initially pulled from the course around 12:41 p.m. because of the rain storms, with officials making the call less than two hours later to suspend play on Thursday due to unfavorable forecasts.
Plans are for the golfers to resume their first rounds where they were suspended at 11:30 a.m., playing through the 18-hole round. Each pairing will then take a 30 minute break before resuming the second round in the same groupings and hole assignments as the first day.
Making the second NCAA postseason appearance of his WCU career, Poston opened his first round with five straight pars before a birdie on the par-3, 163-yard sixth to move to 1-under, which is where he made the turn. However, on the par-4 10th, Poston carded a bogey to move back to even par before being called off the course.
The tournament will have live scoring through the completion of the first round but will be delayed during the start of the second with part of the field concluding the opening round while others commence the second. Officials at the course will make every effort to catch the field up on scoring in the second round.
Making it through all but one hole on Thursday, Georgia Tech’s Richy Werenski holds a one-stroke over a three-way tie for second place, leading the 75-golfer field with a 5-under-par round. Davidson’s Richard Fountain is tied with Poston, even through eight holes.