Courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics
The Road to Grayhawk for the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships was busy today, as 81 teams and 45 individuals began play at six regional sites around the country.
The top five teams from each of the six regionals, along with the low individual not on those teams will advance to the national finals at Grayhawk Golf Club, May 27-June 1.
Here's a recap of first-round action from the six regional sites.
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Bryan Regional; Traditions Club; Bryan, Texas
Behind a 7-under round of 65 turned in by tournament leader Chase Sienkiewicz, the sixth-seeded Arizona Wildcats carded a 12-under round of 276 to jump to the top of the leaderboard in Bryan. The 'Cats hold a three-shot lead over top-seeded and defending national champion Pepperdine, which was paced by a 5-under 67 from Derek Hitchner.
Oregon State, the 10th seed, currently holds the fifth spot by three shots over SMU while No. 4 seed Tennessee has some work ahead of itself after opening with a 7-over round of 295.
Top five seeds: 1. Pepperdine; 2. Texas A&M; 3. Georgia; 4. Tennessee; 5. Kansas
Advancing teams as of today: Arizona (-12); 2. Pepperdine (-9); 3. Texas A&M (-8); Georgia (-7); 5. Oregon State (-3).
On the outside looking in: 6. SMU (E); 7. Kansas (+1).
Advancing individual as of today: Hugo Townsend, Boise State (-3).
They said it: "There's tons of golf to be played. The focus for tomorrow is to simply focus on tomorrow. It's not to worry about the scores and hopefully get ourselves in position come Wednesday."
Oregon State head coach Jon Reehoorn
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Columbus Regional; Ohio State Golf Club; Columbus, Ohio
The big and brawny Scarlett Course at Ohio State is not for the faint-hearted and top-seed Oklahoma State was the only team to emerge under par after the first day in Columbus, carding a 4-under round of 280 on the par-71, 7422-yard beast. East Tennessee State (+2) and San Francisco (+4), two teams that finished 1-2 at the Cle Elum Regional last year, are in the hunt again. After Oklahoma State, only four shots separate six teams seeking to land a top-five finish, including No. 2 seed Georgia Tech and the host Buckeyes.
Top five seeds: 1. Oklahoma State; 2. Georgia Tech; 3. Arkansas; 4. Clemson; 5. East Tennessee State.
Advancing teams as of today: 1. Oklahoma State (-4); 2. East Tenneessee State (+2); 3. San Francisco (+4); 4. Clemson (+5); t-5. Ohio State (+6), Duke; Georgia Tech.
On the outside looking in: 6. Arkansas (+8).
Advancing individual as of today: Julian Perico, Arkansas (-3).
They said it: "It's a golf course where the premium is on driving, and if you're in the rough, you have to smart about where you leave it. When you can avoid having a double bogey on the card -- that's a big deal on a golf course that's this challenging. We did a lot of good things today." Duke head coach Jamie Green
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New Haven Regional; The Course at Yale; New Haven, Conn.
Birdies were plentiful at The Course at Yale, where Wake Forest and Atlantic Sun Conference champion North Florida are tied for the lead at 13-under. Top-seed North Carolina and No. 4 seed Illinois are tied on the cutline at 7-under. Fifth-seed North Carolina State had a tough day, carding a 4-over round of 284.
Top five seeds: 1. North Carolina; 2. Texas Tech; 3. Wake Forest; 4. Illinois; 5. North Carolina State
Advancing teams as of today: t-1. Wake Forest (-13); North Florida (-13); Georgia Southern (-10); 4. Texas Tech (-9); t-5. North Carolina (-7); Illinois.
On the outside looking in: 6. Seton Hall (-5).
Advancing individual as of today: Two tied at -3.
They said it: "I am happy with the way everyone played today. It shows how well the entire team is doing when you don't count a 2-under-Pat score. We avoided having bad holes all day with only six bogeys total as a team. We are excited to get back to the course tomorrow and tee it up again at 7:30 am. There is still a long way to go and we have to continue making birdies."
Wake Forest head coach Jerry Haas
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Norman Regional; Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club; Norman, Okla.
There were no big surprises in Norman, with the exception of Utah, the ninth-seed, which counted a trio of 3-under rounds of 69 by Blake Tomlinson, Javier Barcos and Tristan Mandur and is tied for third, while No. 5 seed Ole Miss is five off the cutline at 1-under.
Playing on its home course, top-ranked Oklahoma played the front nine 14-under par behind Drew Goodman's 6-under 30 and leads the field at 11-under.
Top five seeds: 1. Oklahoma; 2. Texas; 3. Auburn; 4. South Carolina; 5. Ole Miss
Advancing teams as of today: 1. Oklahoma (-11); South Carolina (-10); t-3. Auburn (-8); Utah; 5. Texas (-6).
On the outside looking in: 6. Ole Miss (-1); San Diego State (+2).
Advancing individual as of today: Johnny Keefer, Baylor (-3).
They said it: "That was as good of a front nine as we could've asked for. But you're not done until you're done, and we didn't do a very good job on the backside and lost some momentum. We hit a couple poor golf shots and it cost us. But there's still a long way to go here and we know that. It's going to be a battle all the way through, because nothing is ever easy at regionals."
Oklahoma head coach Ryan Hybl
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Palm Beach Gardens Regional; PGA National Resort; Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
The Champion Course at PGA National proved to be a great equalizer at the Palm Beach Gardens Regional, where two double digit seeds are currently within or on the cutline. No surprises at the top, where top-seeded Vanderbilt carded a 3-under round of 285 to open a five shot lead over No. 7 South Florida. Notre Dame, the third-seed, sits in third at 4-over while 12th seeded Davidson, champion of the Atlantic 10 Conference, hold the fourth spot at 5-over.
The Florida Gators, the region's No. 2 seed, is tied for fifth with the College of Charleston, the fifth seed, as both squads turned in 6-over rounds on Monday.
Top five seeds: 1. Vanderbilt; 2. Florida; 3. Notre Dame; 4. Florida State; 5. Purdue
Advancing teams as of today: 1. Vanderbilt (-3); 2. South Florida (+2); 3. Notre Dame (+4); 4. Davidson (+5); t-5. Florida (+6); College of Charleston.
On the outside looking in: 7. Little Rock (+7).
Advancing individual as of today: Nick Lyerly, UNC Greensboro (-5).
They said it: “I thought we did a lot of really good things and also some things that I know we can do better going forward. We wanted to get off to a fast start and I really thought we did a good job being ready to go. This course is very demanding and it requires toughness, good ball control and resiliency.”
Vanderbilt head coach Scott Limbaugh
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Stockton Regional; The Reserve at Spanos Park; Stockton, Calif.
Behind matching 4-under 68s from Barclay Brown and Henry Shimp, Stanford sits in first place following the first round of the Stockton Regional at The Reserve at Spanos Park. Arizona State is on the heels of the Cardinal at 9-under, while Pac-12 champion Washington, the region's No. 2 seed, currently sits outside the cutline at 3-over.
Top five seeds: 1. Arizona State; 2. Washington; 3. Stanford; 4. LSU; 5. Oregon;
Advancing teams as of today: 1. Stanford (-10); 2. Arizona State (-9); 3. Denver (-6); 4. BYU (-4); t-5. LSU (-1); Liberty
On the outside looking in: 6. Abilene Christian (+1)
Advancing individual as of today: Jackson Rivera, USC (-4).
They said it: "It was great to see a solid team contribution across the board today. When we have five scores that all have a chance to count in the top four, we've been competitive this year. We've paid some extra attention to ball flight control and putting the last few weeks and it was great to see the guys execute."
Stanford head coach Conrad Ray