DAVIS, Calif. – Behind the only two under par rounds of the day, the Nevada men's golf team owns the 18-hole lead after the opening round of the El Macero Classic, hosted by UC Davis.
The 81 players entered in the field fought through windy conditions on Friday but it was two members of the Wolf Pack that posted the only under par rounds of the day. Newcomer
Sam Meek, playing in just his third event with Nevada, is the individual leader after day one after shooting a 3-under 69. Meek was steady all afternoon as he recorded four birdies and just one bogey on the par 4 11
th. Meek will take a one shot lead into Saturday's second round over teammate
Grant Booth.
Booth was the only other player in the 81-person field to card a round under par, turning in a 2-under round of 70. Like his teammate Meek, Booth was solid throughout the day recording just two blemishes on his scorecard on No. 1 and No. 9. He made the turn at 1-under par and played the back nine flawlessly with a birdie and eight pars to close out his round.
Meek and Booth's strong first round performances helped Nevada secure a five-shot lead after 18 holes of play. The Wolf Pack finished with a team score of 291, good for 3-over par as none of the 13 teams in the field posted a team round under par. Perhaps the most notable stat of the day is the Pack's five shot lead comes over No. 24 UCLA. No. 31 TCU sits in fourth at 13-over and the highest ranking team in the tournament, No. 12 Texas Tech, sits in fifth at 15-over par.
Freshman
Joey Vrzich is solidly inside the top 20 after turning in a 3-over round of 75 on Friday. Junior
Jooho Lee, who qualified for a spot in the starting lineup yesterday, carded a 77 and enters the second round tied for 34
th. The fifth member of the Wolf Pack's lineup, sophomore
Sam Harned, struggled in round one after shooting an 8-over 80.
With the short trip over the mountain the Pack also has three individuals entered in the tournament. The best score by one of the three individuals was turned in by senior Kaleb Gorbah, a 3-over 75. He is tied with Vrzich in 19
th place. Fellow senior
Corey Eddings is also tied with one of his teammates in 34th after a round of 77. Sophomore
Stephen Osborne, playing in his first event of the season, shot a round of 82 on Friday.
Nevada will continue its run at the El Macero Classic on Saturday with the second round. Live scoring for the entire tournament is available on GolfStat.com.
Nevada Players
1.
Sam Meek – 69 (-3)
2.
Grant Booth – 70 (-2)
T19.
Joey Vrzich – 75 (+3)
T34.
Jooho Lee – 77 (+5)
T56.
Sam Harned – 80 (+8)
Ind.
T19.
Kaleb Gorbahn – 75 (+3)
T34.
Corey Eddings – 77 (+5)
T65.
Stephen Osborne – 82 (+10)
