Stanford, Calif.----- San Jose State University men's golf coach John Kennaday called it the purest six-iron shot he's ever seen.
For Bryce Wortman, his tee shot on the par 3, 197-yard 14th hole at the Stanford Golf Course turned out to be a hole-in-one, the ninth of his career, highlighting the Spartans' first round action in the 28-team The Goodwin tournament. It's likely to top what he once said was his best six-iron stroke – a 185-yard shot in the 2019 Amer Ari Invitational that left him with a tap-in birdie putt.
The southpaw from Vancouver, Wash., and the 2020 Oregon Amateur champion finished his round with a one-over par 71 as San Jose State posted a 290-team score on the par 70, 6,727-yard course. Wortman's 71 was the low score for the Spartans, the fourth best team score of the morning wave. San Jose State finds itself in a 13th place tie with Georgia Tech and BYU heading into the second of three rounds on March 26.
The Spartans also counted Sean Yu's 72, Vijay Srinivasan's 73 and one of the 74's from Nate Jetter and Carl Corpus. Among the 71 players in the morning, only three were under par and four other players matched par. The course played easier in the afternoon with 16 players under par and 14 more at even par, but nobody else in the 146-player field matched Wortman's ace on the five par-3 holes on the course.
Wortman's hole-in-one was his first since his freshman year in 2017-18 when he played a practice round with Jetter and former teammates Matt Ashley and Charles Thompson at the Cinnabar Hills Golf Club in San Jose. That day, it was a 5-iron on the 175-yard, second hole on the Lake Course nine.
Host Stanford, which played in the afternoon wave of 14 teams, is the tournament leader with a five-under-par 275. Arizona State is second at 278. Denver, which also played in the morning wave on opposite nines from the Spartans, had the best morning team score of 279 and is tied for third with the University of San Diego in the 28-team field
Saint Mary's Blake Hathcoat, playing in the morning, is the first-round leader with a pristine 63. He had five birdies, an eagle and no bogeys. Nevada's Sam Harned matched Hathcoat in the afternoon with his 63 consisting of nine birdies and two bogeys. But neither left the Stanford Golf Course with a hole-in-one like San Jose State's Wortman.
The 54-hole tournament continues on Friday, March 26 with 18 holes and concludes with a third and final round on Saturday, March 27.
The Goodwin men's golf tournament
Stanford Golf Course, Stanford, Calif.
Par 70, 6,727 yards
March 25, 2021
18-hole results
Team scores |
|
1. Stanford |
275 |
2. Arizona State |
278 |
3. Denver |
279 |
San Diego |
279 |
5. Washington State |
280 |
6. Washington |
281 |
7. Pepperdine |
282 |
8. Oregon |
283 |
9. Nevada |
284 |
10. Saint Mary's |
285 |
11. Southern California |
287 |
12. SMU |
288 |
13. San Jose State |
290 |
Georgia Tech |
290 |
Brigham Young |
290 |
16. Santa Clara |
291 |
Florida Atlantic |
291 |
18. UCLA |
292 |
Cal Poly |
292 |
20. Northwestern |
293 |
21. TCU |
294 |
22. Colorado |
296 |
23. California |
297 |
Pacific |
297 |
25. Long Beach State |
299 |
26. Minnesota |
300 |
27. UC Davis |
301 |
28. Cal Baptist |
312 |
Leading Individuals |
|
1. Blake Hathcoat, Saint Mary's |
63 |
Sam Harned, Nevada |
63 |
3. Jackson Solem, Denver |
64 |
4. Jamie Cheatham, San Diego |
65 |
|
|
37. Bryce Wortman |
71 |
50. Sean Yu |
72 |
63. Vijay Srinivasan |
73 |
78. Nate Jetter |
74 |
Carl Corpus |
74 |