STANFORD, Calif. — The 30th-ranked LSU men’s golf team teed off under overcast skies Thursday and finished the first round of the NCAA West Regional at Stanford Golf Course in a tie for 15th place with a 14-over par 294.
Despite the presence of a light rain early in the day, players who teed off in the afternoon saw no rain with little wind. LSU head coach Greg Jones believes the scoring conditions in the afternoon allowed many players in the field to post some low scores.
“The ground was wet and the rough was high early in the day, which led to some high scores,” Jones said. “But as the day wore on, the conditions got better for scoring. It’s supposed to be nice the next couple of days, so the scores will come down a bit as the tournament progresses.”
Sophomore Chris Wells paced the Tigers by finishing the day tied for 12th place with an even-par 70. Senior Brandon Aydlett and freshman Beck Troutman follow closely behind in a tie for 34th place with each shooting a 2-over 72.
Freshman Brent Struthers sits in a tie for 128th with a 10-over 80, while sophomore Garrett Runion is in 131st with an 11-over 81.
“In this situation in the postseason with a chance to go to the NCAA Championships, you can’t go 3-for-5, you have to go 4-for-5,” Jones said. “We had three guys play well, and they need to keep doing what they did, but we have to cut the other scores down.”
BYU leads the tournament by one shot over Pepperdine after shooting a 2-under 278 in the first round. Oscar Alvarez of BYU leads the tournament by three shots over Nathan Lashley of Arizona and Michael Putnam of Pepperdine after firing a course record 7-under 63, which is one stroke better than the previous record.
“We have a couple of kinks to work out, but we’re going to be right there within a few shots of the number (to qualify for the NCAA Championships),” Jones said. “We have to come out here tomorrow and put a number up and do it again the next day. We’ve got to go 4-for-5.”
Second-round action begins Friday at 9:12 a.m. CDT with LSU teeing off with Pepperdine and Washington beginning at 10:15. Live scoring for the second round will be provided by Golfstat.com and can be accessed through LSUsports.net.
NCAA WEST REGIONAL — FIRST ROUND
TEAM SCORES
1. BYU 278 -2; Pepperdine 279 -1; 3. UNLV 281 +1; 4. Arizona 283 +3; 5. New Mexico 284 +4; t6. San Diego State 286 +6; t6. Southern California 286 +6; t6. Washington 286 +6; 9. UCLA 288 +8; t10. Stanford 289 +9; t10. South Carolina 289 +9; t12. Auburn 290 +10; t12. Arizona State 290 +10; 14. Oregon 292 +12; t15. LSU 294 +14; t15. Denver 294 +14; t17. Fresno State 295 +15; t17. St. Mary’s (CA) 295 +15; t17. UC-Riverside 295 +15; t17. South Alabama 295 +15; t21. Texas-Arlington 297 +17; t21. Cal Poly 297 +17; 23. Central Connecticut State 302 +22; t24. Colorado State 303 +23; t24. Illinois State 303 +23; 26. Princeton 306 +26; 27. Samford 312 +32
TOP FIVE INDIVIDUALS
1. Oscar Alvarez, BYU, 63 -7; 2. Nathan Lashley, Arizona, 66 -4; t2. Michael Putnam, Pepperdine, 66 -4; 4. Travis Bertoni, Cal Poly, 68 -2; t5. Rob Grube, Stanford, 69 -1; t5. Pat Moore, Arizona State, 69 -1; t5. Ryan Moore, UNLV, 69 -1; t5. Madalitso Muthiya, New Mexico, 69 -1; t5. Erik Olson, Washington, 69 -1; t5. Bradley Shaw, Southern California, 69 -1
LSU SCORES
t12. Chris Wells 70 E
t34. Brandon Aydlett 72 +2
t34. Beck Troutman 72 +2
t128. Brent Struthers 80 +10
131. Garrett Runion 81 +11