April 8, 2017
Santa Cruz, Calif.----- The University of Southern California took a four-shot lead after the first 18 holes and extended it to eight shots when play was suspended during the second round of the 71st annual Western Intercollegiate men's golf tournament.
Ranked number-one nationally by GolfStat, the Trojans were the only team under par after the first round with a three-under par 347 on the par 70, 6,615-yard Pasatiempo Golf Course. Stanford was next at 351 followed by Oregon at 353. Washington at 355 and Arizona State at 357 rounded out the top-five teams in the 15-team field.
USC, Stanford, Oregon and Texas, ninth at 362, had the lead in the team competition during the first round.
Individually, it was a day for holes-in-one. Pepperdine's Hunter Epson started the day on the 15th hole in the shotgun format and aced his opening shot of the day using a pitching wedge on the 141-yard hole. Less than 30 minutes later, his teammate Robert Geibel pulled out a five-iron and converted his tee shot on the par 3, 217-yard 3rd hole for the second hole-in-one of the day.
In the afternoon round suspended due to darkness, California's William Aldred also made a hole-in-one on the 15th hole using his 9-iron.
When play was suspended due to darkness, Justin Suh of Southern California was the leader at five-under par with four holes remaining in round two. He shot an opening round two-under par 68 and was tied for third after 18 holes. Teammate Cheng Jin and Oregon's Edwin Yi had the first-round lead at three-under par 67.
Only 10 players in the 96-player field broke par in the first round. When play was suspended, eight golfers were under par. Isaiah Salinda of Stanford was one behind Suh at four-under par with four holes to complete his second round. Maverick McNealy of Stanford and Alex Del Rey Goznalez of Arizona State were tied for third at three-under par with five holes to complete their rounds.
Host San Jose State's top player after 18 holes was sophomore Kevin Velo who matched par 70 and was tied for 11th. When play was suspended, Velo was five over par for the day. His teammates did not fare much better. The Spartans are in 15th place.
Play resumes Sunday, April 9, at 8:00 a.m. (PT) and the third round of the 54-hole tournament is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. All players had to wait through a 44-minute rain delay during the morning round.
The Western Intercollegiate is recognized as the longest running men's college golf tournament west of the Mississippi River.
The Western Intercollegiate
Pasatiempo Golf Club
Par 70, 6,615-yards
First round results
Team Scores | |
1. Southern California | 347 (-3) |
2. Stanford | 351 (+1) |
3. Oregon | 353 (+3) |
4. Washington | 355 (+5) |
5. Arizona State | 357 (+7) |
T6. UCLA | 361 (+11) |
T6. Pepperdine | 361 (+11) |
T6. Texas El Paso | 361 (+11) |
9. Texas | 362 (+12) |
10. Arizona | 364 (+14) |
T11. San Diego State | 370 (+20) |
T11. San Jose State | 370 (+20) |
13. California | 373 (+23) |
14. UC Irvine | 376 (+26) |
15. Hawaii | 389 (+39) |
Individual Leaders | |
T1. Edwin Yi, Oregon | 67 (-3) |
T1. Cheng Jin, Southern California | 67 (-3) |
T3. Justin Suh, Southern California | 68 (-2) |
T3. Jared duToit, Arizona State | 68 (-2) |
T3. Doug Ghim, Texas | 68 (-2) |
T3. Maverick McNealy, Stanford | 68 (-2) |
T3. Jonah Texeira, Southern California | 68 (-2) |
T3. George Cunningham, Arizona | 68 (-2) |
T3. PJ Samiere, San Diego State | 68 (-2) |
10. Isaiah Salinda, Stanford | 69 (-1) |
(i) - playing as an individual entry | |
San Jose State scores | |
T11. Kevin Velo | 70 (E) |
T26. William Barnett | 72 (+2) |
T58. Sean Talmadge | 75 (+5) |
T58. Henrik Sohlberg | 75 (+5) |
T84 Scott Munger | 78 (+8) |
92. Matt Murray | 79 (+9) |
San Jose State Individuals | |
T58. Matthew Ashley(i) | 75 (+5) |
T74. Nate Jetter(i) | 77 (+7) |
T74. Bradley Keyer(i) | 77 (+7) |
T84. Charles Thompson(i) | 78 (+8) |
(i) - playing as individual entry |