BRADENTON, Fla. – With junior Zach Wright firing a 2-under par 70 and sophomore Brandon Pierce also breaking par with a 1-under par 71, the No. 7-seeded LSU Tigers cracked the Top 5 of the team standings with a score of 4-over par 292 in Friday’s opening round at the 2015 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships being held at Concession Golf Club.
The Tigers fired out of the blocks in the first round as they quickly dropped to 6-under par for the day and held as much as a three-shot lead at the top of the team standings on their opening nine.
Wright was certainly a catalyst for that as he strung together four-straight birdies on the par-five 13th, par-three 14th, par-four 15th and par-four 16th holes after teeing off from the 10th tee to start his round. He turned in 3-under par for his round before adding a birdie at the par-four fifth and a pair of bogeys at the par-three fourth and par-three sixth holes to finish his second nine holes with a team-leading score of 70.
Pierce was steady throughout the day as he carded four birdies and three bogeys en route to a 1-under 71 in his debut round at the NCAA Championships. He made the turn at even-par for the day as he traded birdies at No. 15 and No. 17 with bogeys at No. 11 and No. 18, but dipped into red figures with birdies at No. 3 and No. 7 around a bogey at No. 4 for a final score of 71.
Wright wrapped up the day in a tie for fifth place on the leaderboard as the top Tiger in the opening round, while Pierce followed one back in a tie for 13th place in his first career round at the NCAA Championships.
With their opening round of 4-over par 292, the Tigers ended the day just six shots off the pace set by first-round leader Illinois as the Fighting Illini were the only team to break par on Friday with a leading 2-under 286. Georgia leveled off with an even-par 288 to follow in second place, while Southern California trailed in third place at 1-over 289 and San Diego State followed in fourth place at 2-over 290 to round out the Top 5.
Each of the 30 teams in the field at this year’s NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships are looking to enter the Top 15 of the team standings after 54 holes to earn a spot in the fourth and final round of stroke play to determine the eight-team field advancing to the match play tournament for the national championship.
Sophomore All-SEC standout Eric Ricard was also a catalyst in leading the Tigers into a strong position after the first round of stroke play as he carded an even-par round of 72 on the day to finish the afternoon in the tie for 24th place on the leaderboard. Like Wright, Ricard turned at 3-under par 33 for his round thanks to four birdies on his opening nine holes, but managed a 3-over 39 on the front nine to finish level.
Senior All-American Ben Taylor added a counting score of 7-over par 79 toward LSU’s final team total on the day as he ended the opening round in a tie for 125th place overall. Fellow senior Stewart Jolly rounded out an LSU lineup with his 10-over par 82 on Friday afternoon. But Jolly will look to bounce back in a big way in Saturday’s second round as he will tee off in a tie for 147th place for the championship.
Illinois’ Thomas Detry and South Florida’s Claudio Correa are the early leaders in the race for the NCAA individual championship after firing matching rounds of 4-under par 68 on the tournament’s opening day.
Duke’s Jake Shuman and Georgia Tech’s Anders Albertson are within striking distance just one shot back in a tie for third place on the leaderboard with their opening scores of 3-under 69. Wright will tee off Saturday in an eight-way tie for fifth place overall and just two shots off the pace thanks to a first-round score of 2-under 72 on Friday afternoon.
After playing alongside No. 8-seeded Oregon and No. 9-seeded Texas Tech in Friday’s opening round, the Tigers are again paired with the Ducks and Red Raiders in Saturday’s second round as they will start the day on hole No. 1 with tee times beginning at 6:50 a.m. CT. Fans can follow the Tigers along through the championship as live scoring can be found online at http://ncaasports.com.
NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS – FIRST ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 288)
1. Illinois 286 -2; 2. Georgia 288 E; 3. Southern California 289 +1; 4. San Diego State 290 +2; 5. LSU 292 +4; T6. Florida 293 +5; T6. Georgia Tech 293 +5; T8. South Florida 294 +6; T8. Texas 294 +6; T8. UCLA 294 +6; T11. SMU 296 +8; T11. TCU 296 +8; 13. Duke 297 +9; T14. Florida State 298 +10; T14. Charlotte 298 +10; T14. Oklahoma State 298 +10; 17. Arizona State 299 +11; T18. Oregon 300 +12; T18. Virginia 300 +12; T20. Auburn 301 +13; T20. Houston 301 +13; T20. Vanderbilt 301 +13; T20. Washington 301 +13; T20. South Carolina 301 +13; 25. UNLV 302 +14; 26. Texas Tech 304 +16; 27. Clemson 306 +18; 28. UAB 308 +20; 29. Stanford 310 +22; 30. Oklahoma 312 +24.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 72)
T1. Thomas Detry, Illinois, 68 -4; T1. Claudio Correa, South Florida, 68 -4; T3. Jake Shuman, Duke, 69 -3; T3. Anders Albertson, Georgia Tech, 69 -3; T5. Zach Wright, LSU, 70 -2; T5. Nahum Mendoza III, San Diego State, 70 -2; T5. Rico Hoey, Southern California, 70 -2; T5. Zach Healy, Georgia, 70 -2; T5. Bryson Dechambeau, SMU, 70 -2; T5. Ryan Orr, Florida, 70 -2; T5. JD Tomlinson, Florida, 70 -2; T5. Riley Davenport, Charlotte, 70 -2.
LSU SCORES
T5. Zach Wright, 70 -2
T13. Brandon Pierce, 71 -1
T24. Eric Ricard, 70 E
T125. Ben Taylor, 79 +7
T147. Stewart Jolly, 82 +10