CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico – After firing a career-low tournament score to win The Prestige at PGA West in his last start, LSU’s senior All-American Zach Wright opened the Querencia Cabo Collegiate in red figures by firing a 1-under par 70 to lead the Tigers in Sunday’s first round at Querencia Golf Club in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Wright finished the first round on the cusp of the Top 10 of the leaderboard in a tie for 16th place overall and four shots off the lead held by Rice’s Mario Carmona with a 5-under 66 on opening day.
After teeing off from the back nine in Sunday’s shotgun start, Wright fell to 2-over par for his round with back-to-back bogeys at the par-five 15th and par-four 16th holes. He rebounded straightaway with his first birdie of the day at the par-four 17th hole before moving back to level par with a birdie at the par-four fourth hole. Wright then followed a bogey at the par-four sixth with birdies on two of his last three holes at the par-four seventh and par-five ninth holes for a 1-under par round of 70.
Wright was the lone Tiger to break par in the opening round as 17th-ranked LSU finished the day in 14th place overall with a team score of 11-over par 295. South Florida grabbed a one-shot lead over Baylor with its team score of 10-under par 274 to top the charts after 18 holes. California and Georgia followed in a tie for third place at 3-under 281, while Florida State rounded out the Top 5 in fifth place at even-par 284.
Freshman Sam Burns ended the day in a tie for 37th place individually with a 1-over par 72. Burns’ round was highlighted by three birdies on holes Nos. 1, 7 and 15 along with two bogeys and one double bogey.
Junior All-American Brandon Pierce opened the championship with a round of 5-over 76 to finish the day in a tie for 56th place overall, while freshman Nathan Jeansonne followed in a tie for 59th place with a first-round score of 6-over 77 and junior All-American Eric Ricard rounded out the lineup in a tie for 65th place with a total of 7-over 78.
The Tigers are paired with Vanderbilt and Rice in Monday’s second round as they will tee off from holes Nos. 15-18 with a shotgun start beginning at 10 a.m. CT. Golfstat will provide live scoring during the championship as fan can follow along in the second round on Monday and final round on Tuesday at http://golfstat.com.
QUERENCIA CABO COLLEGIATE – FIRST ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 284)
1. South Florida 274 -10; 2. Baylor 275 -9; T3. California 281 -3; T3. Georgia 281 -3; 5. Florida State 284 E; 6. Washington 285 +1; 7. Stanford 286 +2; 8. Oregon State 287 +3; 9. Arkansas 291 +7; T10. Houston 292 +8; T10. Ole Miss 292 +8; T12. Wake Forest 294 +10; T12. Vanderbilt 294 +10; 14. LSU 295 +11; 15. Rice 296 +12.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 71)
1. Mario Carmona, Rice, 66 -5; T2. Cristobal Del Solar, Florida State, 67 -4; T2. Taylor Moore, Arkansas, 67 -4; T2. Freddy Andersen, Baylor, 67 -4; T5. Aksel Olsen, South Florida, 68 -3; T5. Cristian DiMarco, South Florida, 68 -3; T7. Lee McCoy, Georgia, 69 -2; T7. Rigel Fernandes, South Florida, 69 -2; T7. Andreas Gjesteby, Baylor, 69 -2; T7. Vincent Martino, Houston, 69 -2; T7. David Boote, Stanford, 69 -2; T7. Chase Koepka, South Florida, 69 -2; T7. Rowin Caron, Florida State, 69 -2; T7. Viraat Badhwar, Stanford, 69 -2; T7. Hunter Shattuck, Baylor, 69 -2.
LSU SCORES
T16. Zach Wright, 70 -1
T37. Sam Burns, 72 +1
T56. Brandon Pierce, 76 +5
T59. Nathan Jeansonne, 77 +6
T65. Eric Ricard, 78 +7