Huskies Struggling in Opening of Golf Championships

The Huskies Men's Golf team opened up to a relatively slow start in Day 1 of the Pac 12 Championships in Pullman.  USC, Arizona State, WSU and Stanford are all ahead of the #12 Washington team with two days left to go.

Press release courtesy of UW's Ricky Brackett is as follows.

Dawgs Fifth After Day One At Pac-12 Championships

Release: 04/27/2015

Scores Through Two Rounds

Live Scoring | Pac-12 Championships Central

PULLMAN, Wash. – No. 12 Washington is underway at the Pac-12 Championships, playing 36 holes at Palouse Ridge on Monday. The Dawgs finished the day at 16-over are in fifth place with two 18-hole rounds left to go.

“Our day was about like it looked on the scoreboard,” said head coach Matt Thurmond. “We hung in there and stayed alive, but never really got much going. It was tough to get momentum out there. We need to play better on the easy holes.”

The Huskies opened with a round of 13-over 363 in the morning, before playing much better in the afternoon with a round of 3-over 353. Washington trails No. 16 USC by 16 strokes after the Trojans took the lead midway through the tournament. Their round of 6-under 344 in the afternoon was the best of the day to get to red fiugres at 1-under for the tournament.

No. 3 Arizona State got off to a hot start and led big early on, but sunk to second at 5-over for the championship. Host Washington State and No. 13 Stanford are tied for third at 10-over, while the Huskies are fifth.

Maverick McNealy of Stanford leads after 36 holes at 7-under. The nation’s No. 3-ranked player finished with rounds of 5-under 65 and 2-under 68 to take a one shot lead on Derek Bayley of Washington State.

The Huskies have two players just inside the top-10 in a tie for 10^th at even par. Both Cheng-Tsung Pan and Corey Pereira were steady all day, but never could string together birdies. Pan shot a pair of even-par 70’s, making two birdies and two bogeys in round one and three birdies and three bogeys in round two.

Pereira opened with a round of 1-over 71, before a 1-uner 69 in the afternoon. He made six birdies and six bogeys on the day, playing the par fives at 3-under.

The rest of the Husky lineup was tightly bunched with each player having their score kept in at least one of the two rounds. The Pac-12 Championships plays an unusual format with six players and five scores counting as opposed to the usual five and four.

Chris Babcock, Frank Garber and Jonathan Sanders each finished the day at 6-over 146 and are tied for 37^th. Babcock had his score used in both rounds, firing a 4-over 74 and 2-over 72. His morning round did not include a birdie, but got it going in the afternoon, getting it to 2-under through 14 holes, before playing the final four holes at 4-over.

Garber had his morning round used, a 3-over73, while another 73 in the afternoon was thrown out. He also made more birdies in the afternoon, but it came with more mistakes. Sanders shot 75 in the morning, but came back to shoot a 1-over 71 in the afternoon, a round that included three birdies.

Jordan Lu shot 6-over 76 in the morning and had that score thrown out, before coming back with a 1-over 71. He is at 7-over 147 and tied for 41^stafter 36 holes.

The Dawgs will be back on the course at Palouse Ridge on Tuesday for the third of four rounds. Washington will be part of the first wave out off the first tee, playing with Stanford and Oregon beginning at 8 a.m.

“We still have lots of hope,” said Thurmond. “There are 10 rounds left to count and that’s almost a full tournament. We are excited for tomorrow.”