Woolsey Leads After One Round at Southern Highlands

Monday, March 5

Las Vegas, NV

All Day

University of Washington

Southern Highlands Collegiate

March 05, 2018 | Men's Golf

LAS VEGAS – Freshman Noah Woolsey ended the first round atop the individual leaderboard, carding a five-under 67 to lead the Washington men's golf team after the opening day of the Southern Highlands Collegiate on Monday.

Woolsey's impressive opening round helped the Huskies, who made a charge on the back nine to finish with a 5-over-par 293, good enough for a three-way tie for eighth place in the 15-team tournament.

Washington struggled early on, sitting near the bottom of the team leaderboard after combining to go 17-over-par through the first nine holes including 20 holes over par to just six under. But things changed when the Huskies made the turn, recording a collective three-under with 12 holes under par and to nine over.

Woolsey helped lead that charge with a round of five birdies and one eagle with just one bogey. He was part of the late charge, dropping four strokes over the final seven holes. That included an eagle on his 15^th hole (Hole 6) where Woolsey holed out from the fairway to cap his round.

"Noah shot the lowest individual score of the day which is something special in a field this strong," said Head Coach Alan Murray. "He played a fantastic round of golf and shot -5 which really helped us out. Noah hit a ton of good shots and capitalized on birdie chances. Holing out for eagle from the fairway on 6 was a nice boost towards the end of his round. He keeps getting better each week and it's fun to watch."

Sophomore Henry Lee closed out his round with two birdies over his final five holes to finish with an even-par 72. Lee opened the day with a one-under 35 through the first nine holes, then ran into trouble on 11, 12 and 13, recording three-straight bogeys to go two-up. But he recovered quickly with back-to-back birdies to drop back to even, then recorded three-straight pars to end the round.

"Henry battled tremendously for a level par round of 72," said Murray. "He putted really well and got rewarded for the hard work he had been putting in practice."

Carl Yuan and Jan Schneider had nearly identical rounds, each going seven-over through the first nine holes but going two-under over the final nine to finish at five-over 77 on the day.

"Jan played a really great back nine of two-under par to help the team out," said Murray. "That was a big help to the team as was Carl. He was also two-under for his final nine holes and counted for us."

Frank Garber rounded out the Huskies five, finishing at nine-over 81 on the day.

"Frank had a tough day and was not a counting score but he will help us out the rest of the week," said Murray.

"Great comeback by the guys today on our back nine," said Murray. "Looking forward to tomorrow and trying to move up the leaderboard."

The Huskies begin round two on Tuesday at 9:00 a.m., before closing out the tournament on Wednesday.