DALY CITY -- Brady Johnson and Robbie Fillmore are off to a good start at the NCAA West Regional in hopes of advancing to the NCAA Finals.
The two are competing as individual golfers at the par-72 Lake Merced Golf Club with Johnson currently tied for third place overall at 5-under-par 67 and Fillmore close behind at even-par in a 17-way tie for 20th place.
“The guys played great today,” said BYU assistant coach Todd Miller. “Any time you shoot even-par or better on a quality golf course like this, you know you had a pretty good day.”
Johnson totaled seven birdies on the day, while Fillmore had three.
Six regional events throughout the country will yield five teams apiece to send to the NCAA Championships May 25-30 at the Inverness Country Club in Toledo, Ohio. The top individual not a member of the five advancing teams from each region will also be sent to the championship.
As it stands after one round, that individual spot would be given to Johnson, as nine of the top 10 individual positions are currently occupied by members of the top five teams Arizona State (-9), New Mexico (-8), Texas A&M (-7), Oregon (-6) and USC (-3). San Diego State (-2) and San Diego (E) are close behind, with SDSU’s Johan Carlsson in 11th place overall at 2-under-par.
Fillmore and Johnson will continue to battle for the qualifying individual spot in the second round Friday morning at 10:00 a.m. and 10:10 a.m., respectively. Results from the West Regional can be followed on golfstat.com.
“Lake Merced is a beautiful course to play on, by far the best course we’ve been on all year,” Johnson said.
NCAA West Regional
Lake Merced Golf Club
Daly City, Calif.
1 (14) Arizona State -9
2 (37) New Mexico -8
3 (12) Texas A&M -7
4 (35) Oregon -6
5 (2) USC -3
6 (22) San Diego State -2
7 San Diego E
8 (50) UC Irvine +1
9 (43) Colorado +3
10 San Francisco +3
11 Kansas State +6
12 (26) UC Davis +10
13 Oregon State +12
Top Individuals
Brady Johnson, BYU -5
Johann Carlsson, SDSU -2
Luke Symons, Colorado -2
John Chin, UC Irvine -1
Ian Coffman, San Diego -1