University of Washington
Querencia Cabo Collegiate (Purple)
Huskies Sixth After Opening Round In Mexico
February 28, 2016 | Men's Golf
Live Scoring
QUERENCIA, Mexico – No. 29 Washington got off to a solid start against a loaded field at the Querencia Cabo Collegiate at the Los Cabos Querencia Golf Course on Sunday. The Dawgs shot an opening round of 1-over 285 and are in sixth place in a 15-team field.
On a course surrounded by desert with heavily sloped greens and several elevated tees, the Huskies knew there would be some mistakes, but they tried to keep them to a minimum.
“On a course like this you know there will be some big numbers,” said head coach Matt Thurmond. “We just had a few too many today.”
Playing against 12 teams ranked in the top-35 and six in the top-15, the Dawgs are 11 shots off the lead held by No. 30 South Florida who fired a 10-under 274. No. 34 Baylor is second at 9-under just one shot back, before it drops back to No. 14 California and No. 11 Georgia who are tied for third at 3-under. No. 3 and defending champion Florida State is fifth at even-par, one shot better than the Dawgs at 1-over.
The Huskies got solid play across the board with all five players shooting between 1-under and 3-over. There were plenty of birdies, but each guy also made at least one double-bogey.
“We usually kill the par fives and they got us today,” said Thurmond. “Considering how it went today, I am happy that we shot 1-over and had a worst counting score of 73.”
The Dawgs were led by Kevin Kwon who shot a round of 1-under 70, playing out of the No. 5 spot. The junior made four birdies, including a pair of twos on par-3's to go with one bogey and one double, coming on the par-5 15th. He is currently tied for 16th, four shots off the overall lead held by Mario Carmona of Rice.
In a tie for 25th after rounds of even-par 71 were Corey Pereira and Jonathan Sanders. Pereira made four birdies, but also two bogeys and a double. Meanwhile, Sanders also made four birdies to go with two bogeys and a double. Both players bogeyed the par-5 15th, adding to the Dawgs struggles on the par-5's.
The final score kept came from freshman Carl Yuan who shot a 2-over 73. Yuan led the Huskies with five birdies, but also had a pair of double-bogeys and a triple-bogey. He also struggled on the par-5's, doubling the fourth hole and tripling the ninth. Yuan is currently tied for 43rd for the tournament.
Frank Garber was the final Husky, shooting 3-over 74 to tie for 48th. He made three birdies, four bogeys and a double for his first round.
The Huskies will look to make a move up the leaderboard when they resume play on Monday. The Dawgs tee off at 9 a.m. on holes six through nine, playing with Florida State, Stanford and Oregon State.
