ALPHARETTA, Ga. – Junior standout Zach Wright fired an even-par 72 to lead the No. 7-ranked LSU Men’s Golf team in Friday’s opening round at the ninth-annual United States Collegiate Championship as the Tigers wrap up their 2014 fall season this weekend in the event being held at the Lakeside Course at The Golf Club of Georgia.
With Wright leading the way, the Tigers wrapped up the day in a tie for 13th place in the team standings with the 13th-ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets after posting a team score of 8-over par 296.
Wright carded two birdies and two bogeys on his opening round as he canceled out birdies at the par-five first and par-four 10th holes with bogeys at the par-three 13th and par-four 16th holes on the back nine en route to a team-leading even-par 72 on the afternoon. That effort tied him for 24th place among the 79 players in the field in the opening round of this year’s championship.
Senior All-American Ben Taylor and sophomore Eric Ricard matched one another with rounds of 2-over par 74 to finish the day in a tie for 46th place on the individual leaderboard. Also matching one another during their opening round were senior All-American Stewart Jolly and senior Myles Lewis, who each posted rounds of 4-over par 76 to finish the day in a tie for 58th place.
The 28th-ranked Virginia Cavaliers outclassed the rest the field while jumping out to a six-shot lead over 17th-ranked Texas with an outstanding 16-under par 272 on Friday at The Golf Club of Georgia.
Leading the charge for the Cavaliers in Friday’s opening round was Denny McCarthy who blistered the Lakeside Course with a 9-under par 63 to grab a three-shot lead over Virginia teammate Derek Bard and Stanford’s Maverick McNealy going into the weekend. Bard and McNealy matched each other shot-for-shot with rounds of 6-under par 66 to follow McCarthy in a tie for second place overall.
Rounding out the top-five teams were Texas A&M in third place at 7-under 281, No. 3 Stanford in fourth place at 5-under 283 and No. 8 Auburn and No. 26 East Tennessee State in a tie for fifth place at 2-under 286.
The Tigers will tee off alongside Georgia Tech and Kent State in Saturday’s second round as they feature in the first wave of teams off the back nine beginning at 8:30 a.m. CT. Golfstat will provide live scoring during the second and third rounds at this year’s U.S. Collegiate Championship on Saturday and Sunday as fans can follow along at http://www.golstat.com.
UNITED STATES COLLEGIATE CHAMPIONSHIP – FIRST ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 288)
1. Virginia 272 -16; 2. Texas 278 -10; 3. Texas A&M 281 -7; 4. Stanford 283 -5; T5. Auburn 286 -2; T5. East Tennessee State 286 -2; 7. UCLA 287 -1; 8. Wake Forest 288 E; T9. Oklahoma State 290 +2; T9. Washington 290 +2; 11. Iowa 291 +3; 12. Clemson 294 +6; T13. LSU 296 +8; T13. Georgia Tech 296 +8; 15. Kent State 304 +16.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 72)
1. Denny McCarthy, Virginia, 63 -9; T2. Derek Bard, Virginia, 66 -6; T2. Maverick McNealy, Stanford, 66 -6; T4. Gavin Hall, Texas, 67 -5; T4. Cheng-Tsung Pan, Washington, 67 -5; T6. Scottie Scheffler, Texas, 68 -4; T6. Rhys Pugh, East Tennessee State, 68 -4; T6. Will Long, Auburn, 68 -4; T6. Kristoffer Ventura, Oklahoma State, 68 -4; T10. Carson Schaake, Iowa, 69 -3; T10. Jonathan Garrick, UCLA, 69 -3; T10. Adria Arnaus, Texas A&M, 69 -3.
LSU SCORES
T24. Zach Wright, 72 E
T46. Eric Ricard, 74 +2
T46. Ben Taylor, 74 +2
T58. Myles Lewis, 76 +4
T58. Stewart Jolly, 76 +4