Gold Mountain Shows Its Teeth In First Round
5/14/2015 7:00:00 PM | Men's Golf
NCAA Golf Online
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The beautiful 7,115-yard layout at the Olympic Course at Gold Mountain showed Sam Houston and several other squads it has teeth as well.
On the opening day of the 2015 Washington NCAA Regional, only five of the 14 teams entered were able to play the first 18 holes under par. The Bearkats ended the day with a 12-over team total of 300.
“It was disappointing. We didn't play very well,” Sam Houston head coach Brandt Kieschnick said. “It's only one round, though. This is a very tough golf course. We need to shoot two good rounds under par and we'll still have a chance.”
The tournament in Bremerton, Washington, is one of five regional men's golf events this week. The top five squads in each regional advance to the NCAA Men's Golf Championships to be held May 29 through June 3 at the Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida. The Bearkats stand 13 strokes out of fifth place with 36 holes to play.
“We've shown we can bounce back after a tough first round this year,” Kieschnick said. “At the Border Olympics we were 15th out of 18 teams after the first round but came back to finish third. This is a very tough golf course. Playing under par the next two rounds will go a long way.”
No. 30-ranked Alabama-Birmingham leads the tournament after 18 holes with an eight-under-par team total of 280. No. 17 Southern California and No. 31 TCU are tied for second place, both with seven-under scores of 281. Host No. 12 Washington and No. 43 Iowa State are knotted for fourth place each with a one-under score of 287.
No. 6 South Carolina is in sixth place with an even-par 288, followed by UC-Davis 289, Michigan and Pepperdine 292 and No. 10 Baylor 293. South Dakota stands 11th with a 293 total followed by Sam Houston 300, Virginia Commonwealth 304 and Cleveland State 307.
J. T. Taylor shot the low round for the Bearkats with an even-par 72 Thursday. The senior birdied the sixth hole and carded an eagle on the ninth for a one-under 35 front nine. He completed the back nine with a 37. Taylor stands tied for 22nd in the individual competition.
“The course played really hard,” Taylor said. “This is a great golf course. It's very demanding. If you hit bad shots you are going to get penalized. You really have to pay attention the whole round and hone in on each shot. As scenic and beautiful as this place is, it's very very hard.”
Other Sam Houston scores (and individual places) were Zach Cabra 38-37—75 (40th), Andrew Ertel 38-38—76 (50th), Jake MCrory 41-36—77 (55th) and Logan Boatner 42-37—79 (68th). Sean Crocker of Southern California leads the tournament with a six-under 66.
There were bright spots during the day.
Taylor's eagle on the par 5, 617-yard ninth hole was one of only three eagles in the NCAA first round. Tom Swanson and Reed Hrynewich of Michigan, one of the two teams playing with Sam Houston Thursday, had the other two. Hrynewich's eagle was a hole-in-one on the par 3 16th hole.
As a team, the Sam Houston quintet collected 13 birdies. Boatner led the Kats with four birdies during his first round.
The Bearkat coaches and players know they have played on tough courses before and bounced back from tough rounds.
“The greens here are tough,” Kieschnick said. “You have to hit in the right spots. If you don't hit in the fairways, it's a tough up and down. It's a course where every shot you, you're living on the edge.”
The Bearkats will tee off from the 10th hole for Friday's second round, starting at 8:55 a.m. (10:55 Huntsville time). Sam Houston will be paired with Baylor and South Dakota.
“We have to pay attention every shot, every hole, but we also just need to go out and have fun,” Taylor said. “When you're having fun on a great golf course like this good things happen.”
