University of Washington
Waikoloa Intercollegiate
Taylor Tied For the Lead In Hawai'i
February 03, 2010 | Men's Golf
Feb. 3, 2010
WAIKOLOA, Hawai'i - Nick Taylor is tied for first and the Husky team is tied for second after the first round of the 20th Annual Mauna Lani Invitational.
The team overcame a windy and difficult Mauna Lani North Course and is tied with Oregon at +3, 291, three strokes behind UCLA. The Bruins lead after collectively shooting an even-par 288. Southern California is fourth at +5 and six Pac-10 teams are in the top nine overall.
"I thought we did a pretty good job today," said coach Matt Thurmond after the round. "The winds blew extremely hard. To come out of off- season and have the conditions that challenging was a real test for us."
And the Huskies, led by Taylor, were up to the task on Wednesday. Taylor (Abbottsford, B.C./Yale Secondary) is among five competitors atop the leaderboard who shot a 2-under par 70 in the first day of action.
Taylor began the shotgun-start from the 17th hole and ran out of the gate with back-to-back birdies. After a birdie on hole No. 2 - his third in the first four holes - he would bogey No. 3. He would go on for two more birdies and two bogeys to end the day with his 70.
Freshman Charlie Hughes was the second-highest Husky finisher and is tied for seventh after a first round even par 72.
"I walked with him for most of the day," said Thurmond about his first-year player, "and he was awesome. He didn't make many big putts, but he just played flawlessly in really tough conditions."
Hughes especially impressed his coach on the two par-5 holes on the front nine. He made it to a back pin on No. 2 after hitting his second shot 240 yards into the wind with a 2-iron. Five holes later used the same club to hit a 280 yard second shot downwind right to pin high. He missed the eagle putts on both holes, but would tap in the gimme birdies.
Darren Wallace is the third-highest Husky tied for 19th at 2-over par 74. Richard Lee is one shot behind Wallace after a 75 (+3).
"Darren and Richard, neither of them had much go their way," said Thurmond. "But they hung in there pretty good to shoot decent scores in those conditions, so it was a good start for us."
Junior Tze Huang Choo was +8 on the day but ended his round on a positive note with a birdie on No. 16.
T2. Washington, +3 (291)
T1. Nick Taylor -2 7(0)
T7. Charlie Hughes E (72)
T19. Darren Wallace +2 (74)
T32 Richard Lee +3 (75)
T87. Tze Huang Choo +8 (80)
