Arizona leads Cabo Collegiate, but 10 teams within 12 shots

March 2, 2020 | by AmateurGolf.com Staff

- Cabo del Sol is an inspiring Jack Nicklaus design

Led by co-leader Trevor Werbylo, the Wildcats lead a resurgent Vanderbilt by three shots at Cabo del Sol

Arizona, fueled by David Laskin’s 67 and a pair of 69s from Trevor Werbylo and Briggs Duce, posted a 9-under 275 to take a 3-stroke lead over surging Vanderbilt.

Coach Jim Anderson’s Wildcats shared the first-round lead with Baylor and three-time defending champion Oklahoma State and through 36 holes stand at 15-under-par 553. Their fourth score of 70 was posted by Aidric Chan.

“Any time you tee it up, you want to have an opportunity to win one round, or nine holes, or the one hole to go and our job of this week is just to focus on one round at a time, even more specifically just one shot at a time,” Anderson said. “I know that sounds a little cliché, but putting yourself in this position is exactly what you want to do and now we have a chance to perform our best on our final round and if that happens, then we are probably going to be a pretty great shape for the tournament.”

Arizona State held third place at 558 and Florida State and Stanford were tied for fourth at 559. The Cardinal made the largest leaderboard jump of the day, seven places from 11th to T4th.

Vanderbilt, led by William Moll’s 5-under 66, moved up three positions into second place.

Stanford freshman Barclay Brown of England logged the 2020 tournament’s lowest round (and second lowest in event history) with a clean card of 7-under 64 that included five birdies and one eagle. He was joined by Ethan Ng (68), Henry Shimp and Daulet Tuleubayev (69) for a second-round total of 14-under par 270, one stroke off the tournament mark 269.

“I hit a few shots close, made a few putts, really just keeping out of trouble because there are plenty of good scores out there,” Brown said. “It was really just keeping the bogeys and the doubles off the card which I think we all did well today.”

Brown shot a first-round 71 and shares the top spot on the individual leaderboard at 7-under 135 with Baylor freshman Johnny Keefer, of San Antonio, Texas, and Arizona’s Trevor Werbylo, a junior from Tucson. Arizona’s first-round co-leaders Oklahoma State and Baylor each finished at 283 for the day and 561 for 36 holes and dropped five positions to T6. The Cowboys are vying to win their fourth consecutive title.

Notable

- Stanford’s Round 2 270 is one stroke off the tournament’s round of 269 shared by Oklahoma State (Rd. 2 in 2019) and Arizona State (Rd. 1 in 2019)

- Barclay Brown’s 64 ties the second-lowest round in tournament history, which is shared by Matthew Wolff of Oklahoma State (Rd. 3 in 2019), Collin Morikawa of California (Rd. 3 in 2018) and Rigel Fernandes of South Florida (Rd. 1 in 2015)

DAY ONE REPORT

Oklahoma State’s attempt to win its fourth consecutive title at the Cabo Collegiate was challenged strongly by Arizona and Baylor as that trio of teams shares the first-round lead at 6-under-par 278.

Arizona State is fourth and three strokes back at 281, followed by Vanderbilt and Florida State in a tie for fifth at 282.

“I really like what saw,” said Oklahoma State coach Alan Bratton. “Cabo suits us and we’ve had some success the last few years….Our guys took care of their ball. Through 12 or 13 holes, we had five of our six guys who hadn’t made a bogey. I really like that.”

The Cowboys won the title at Querencia Golf Club in its three other appearances in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Brian Stark led Oklahoma State with a 3-under 68 and defending medalist Austin Eckroat shot 2-under 69. “It was nice to have our freshman Brian Stark be our low score today,” Bratton said. “He’s been getting better and better as the year goes. It’s good for him to lead us and that’s what we need from everybody. Be ready to be the low guy.”

Trevor Werbylo of Arizona posted the day’s best individual round with seven birdies against two bogeys for 5- under-par 66.

“We felt good on the course and had a good day of practice” said Arizona coach Jim Anderson of his team’s second appearance in Cabo. “It’s a beautiful course where hitting the green is important. Trevor did not surprise us. He is very comfortable on courses like this. His game travels us. He carried us.”

Werbylo, a junior from Tucson, agreed with his coach about his comfort level.

“It is similar to our course in Arizona,” said Werbylo. “I think it might be new to some other teams to see desert golf, but I felt comfortable. I liked the course today and yesterday, so I had confidence coming into today.”

Blake Wagoner of Arizona State trails Werbylo by one stroke after a 67

Notable

- Seven of the 15 teams finished the first round under par despite the Cove Club being a new site for the tournament.

- Florida State’s John Pak started his round with a triple bogey seven but righted his game and was five- under par with six birdies and a bogey in his next 17 holes to finish at 1-under 69.

Results: Cabo Collegiate

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
1	Walker Lee	Houston, TX	800	71-70-64=205
T2	Barclay Brown	, England	500	71-64-71=206
T2	Johnny Keefer	San Antonio, TX	500	68-67-71=206
T4	Julian Perico	, Peru	400	69-70-69=208
T4	Cooper Dossey	Austin, TX	400	68-70-70=208