ATHENS, Ga. — No. 24 BYU men’s golf posted a 6-under 278 in the first round of the NCAA Athens Regional, to put them in fourth on Monday at the University of Georgia Golf Club.
“I was happy with the start we had today,” director of golf Todd Miller said. “We got rolling late on our first nine holes and really played the tough par threes well on our second nine.”
The Cougars got off to a soaring start by combining for 12 birdies and only three bogeys on the back nine. BYU played steady golf overall, leading the field in made pars and tying for the fewest bogeys on the day.
“There are only three par fives on this course, and they are not automatic birdie holes like many courses our guys see,” Miller said. “I felt our management of those holes was what kept us from maintaining the lead we had. We were only one under on the par fives today, where Louisville, which is leading, was 8-under.”
No. 36 Louisville leads through 18 holes at 10-under par. No. 1 Auburn and No. 13 Vanderbilt share the second spot with a 7-under opening round. With a 5-under 279, Rice and host No. 26 Georgia finished the day tied for fifth, just one stroke behind the Cougars.
Kihei Akina made three consecutive birdies from holes 14-16 on his way to a 3-under round of 68. Akina found himself in a tie for eighth after his 19th round in the 60’s out of 23 total rounds in the spring portion of the season.
Parker Bunn, Peter Kim, and Tyson Shelley each sit tied for 17th after carding 1-under-par 70s on Monday. Bunn and Kim combined for six birdies in the first nine holes, with Kim getting three consecutive on holes 11-13 and another on 17. Shelley played bogey-free golf and carded one birdie, coming on hole five.
Kwon turned in a 3-over-par first round and sits tied for 52nd.
“The University of Georgia Golf Club is a Robert Trent Jones design, and his courses always have tough green complexes,” Miller said. “If we want to continue to play well, we need to keep the ball under the hole and on the strong side of each hole location.”
BYU will tee off round two of the regional on Tuesday at 6:30 a.m. MDT. Live coverage on babygrandegolf.com will begin at 5:50 a.m. MDT, and live scoring will be available on Scoreboard.