Yuan Leads Dawgs To Third To Open NCAA Regionals
May 16, 2016 | Men's Golf
Live Scoring
FRANKLIN, Tenn. – No. 23 Washington is off to a solid start at the NCAA Franklin Regional at the Vanderbilt Legends Club after an opening round of 5-under 283. The Dawgs are tied for third after one of three rounds with the top-five teams advancing to the NCAA Championships.
The Huskies are in position thanks to freshman Carl Yuan who shot a dazzling, bogey-free round of 7-under 65. He is currently tied for second, just one stroke off the lead.
“Carl's round today was so huge for us,” said head coach Matt Thurmond. “Without it, we would be in rough shape, but he kept us in it. Bogey-free rounds are sacred in our program and to have one in your first NCAA Regionals round is pretty cool. He played well and really capitalized on his opportunities today.”
No. 2 Texas has the overall lead at 20-under, 11 shots better than East Carolina who is a surprising second at 9-under. The Longhorns were the top seed heading into the week, while the Pirates were seeded eleventh of 13 teams in the field.
The fourth-seeded Huskies are tied with No. 8 seed Kennesaw State for third, while No. 9 and second-seeded Vanderbilt and fifth-seeded Virginia are tied for fifth and the final qualifying spot at 3-under. No. 14 and third seeded LSU is lurking in seventh at even-par.
“Overall we didn't drive it great so we made a few too many bogeys,” said Thurmond. “If you're in the fairways out here there are lots of birdie opportunities.”
Yuan, like all the Huskies began on the back nine, making one birdie and eight pars to make the turn at 1-under. He then caught fire on the front, making birdies on four of the first five holes and eagling No. 7 to shoot 6-under 30 for his final nine holes. He is currently one back of Doug Ghim of Texas who leads at 8-under and tied with Michael Perras of Houston and Taylor Funk of Texas for second place.
Finishing the day at even par were Corey Pereira and Chris Babcock. Both players are tied for 25th overall after rounds of 72, although they got there in much different fashion. Pereira struggled out of the gate and was 4-over through his first six holes, but birdied No. 18 before switching to the front nine that he played in 3-under. Pereira birdied four of his last six holes to get back on track and help the team with a counting score.
Babcock, on the other hand, started fast, shooting 4-under 32 on the back nine. He then bogeyed his last three holes of the day to fall back to even par. Still, it was an important round for the Huskies who had just Yuan's round that was under par.
The final counting score came from Frank Garber who shot 2-over 74. He is tied for 38th after a pretty even round that included a birdie and two bogeys for each nine holes.
Jonathan Sanders had his round of 3-over 75 thrown out after playing his final two holes in 3-over. The 2014 NCAA Raleigh Regional Champion twice made birdies to get his round back to even, but stumbled at the end and is now tied for 44th.
The Dawgs will be back on the course on Tuesday for the second round. Washington will be looking to stay in the top five that will advance to the NCAA Championships in Eugene at the end of the month.
Players Mentioned
