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Men's Golf NCAA Regional Update: Day 1
NCAA Men's Golf Update

	Matt Schovee, SMU

May 17, 2012

IRVING, Texas – All seven Conference USA representatives wrapped up first round NCAA Men’s Golf Regional play among the top five teams in their respective regions Thursday. No. 41 SMU finished the day second in the Greensboro Regional and even par. No. 33 East Carolina shot eight-under par and sits in third place at the Athens Regional, while Tulsa is tied for third at the Greensboro Regional. SMU’s Matt Schovee fired a five-under, 67, to lead the Greensboro Regional after the first round, while Memphis’ Jonathan Fly is the co-leader at four-under par at the Bowling Green Regional. Seven C-USA golfers hold top-five positions after the opening round.

Memphis, in the Bowling Green Regional, UAB and UCF, both in the Stanford Regional, will enter the second round tied for fourth place. Houston currently is tied for fifth in the Athens Regional.

Greensboro Regional Leaderboard - SMU/Tulsa

Bowling Green Regional Leaderboard - Memphis

Athens Regional Leaderboard - East Carolina/Houston

Stanford Regional Leaderboard - UAB/UCF

Athens Regional Recaps

East Carolina:

East Carolina is in third place after the opening round of the NCAA Athens Regional at the University of Georgia Golf Course Thursday. The Pirates shot 8-under 276 on the par-71, 7,253-yard links.

The 276 marks the first under-par round that ECU has posted in its seven rounds of play in NCAA competition. Its previous best was a 1-over 289 in the first round of the 1991 NCAA East Regional.

Senior Harold Varner and sophomore Ryan Eibner lead the way for ECU, as each player carded a 4-under 67 and are a part of a five-way tie for fifth-place. Varner was 1-under after nine holes, as ECU began play on the back nine, but was even through 13 holes. He then birdied four of the final five holes to post his lowest round of the season. Eibner recorded five birdies to match his lowest round of the year.

Houston:

Houston sophomore Curtis Reed opened play during his first NCAA postseason with a school-record 66 to stand in a tie for second place Thursday after the First Round of the NCAA Athens Regional.

Competing on the 7,253-yard, par-71 University of Georgia Golf Course, the Castroville, Texas, native played a bogey-free round to record the lowest score by any Cougar in NCAA Regional play. His opening mark topped the previous Regional lows of 67 by Ricky Romano (3rd round, 2006); Brett Callas (3rd round, 1998) and Zoran Zorkic (2nd round, 1989).

As a team, the Cougars finished with a total of 282 to tie with UNC Wilmington for fifth place.

South Central Region Recap

Memphis:

Memphis rebounded from a slow start early in the first round to post a team score of 295 (+7) and grab a share of fourth position at the NCAA Bowling Green Regional. Jonathan Fly set the pace with a 4-under-par 68 and is tied for the individual lead with Pedro Figueiredo of UCLA.

The Tigers found themselves in a tie for last early in the round as their team score reached as high as 11-over-par before they settled in. Fly posted a 4-under-par 32 on the closing nine after shooting even on the front to post his 68 and lead the Memphis charge.

The Tigers find themselves in a four-way tie for fourth position after the opening round. No. 39 Memphis is tied with No. 15 Texas A&M, No. 21 Clemson and No. 26 North Texas as each school posted a team score of 295 (+7).

Greensboro Regional Recaps

SMU:

Senior Matt Schovee and sophomore Harry Higgs combined to shoot 8-under par to lead SMU on day one at the NCAA Greensboro Regional at the Grandover Resort East Course. As a team, No. 42 SMU finished the day in second place at even par, five strokes back of No. 31 Liberty.

Schovee holds the clubhouse lead through 18 holes after firing a 5-under, 67, which was his best round of the season and tied for the best of his Mustang career. After a bogey on the first hole, the senior quickly rebounded with a birdie on No. 2. In all, he tallied six birdies on the day, including a streak of three in a row on No. 5, 6 and 7.

Higgs is tied for second at 3-under while also converting on six birdie opportunities. After bogeys on No. 7 and 9 to fall back to even, the sophomore rallied on the back nine with birdies on No. 10, 12 and 16 to close out the round.

Tulsa:

Tulsa turned in solid performance Thursday in the opening round of the NCAA Greensboro Regional. Tulsa carded a five-over par 293 for third place at the Grandover Resort East Course in the 14-team field.

Tulsa is 10 strokes behind leader Liberty, who shot a score of 283, while SMU is five strokes ahead of the Hurricane in second place with a score of 288. Ninth-ranked UNLV also shot 293 to tie Tulsa for third place, as Texas Tech's score of 294 rounds out the top-five teams. Louisiana-Lafayette and Lamar (295), 5th-ranked Auburn (296), Indiana (298) and Florida (299) round out the top-10 teams.

Hurricane sophomore John Young Kim sits in third place overall after a round of three-under par 69 on Thursday. Kim turned in birdie putts on holes 1, 6, 14 and the par-5 18th hole, while his lone bogey came on the 11th hole.

Stanford Regional Recaps:

UAB:

UAB posted a solid opening round score at the NCAA Stanford Regional to finish as one of six teams below par with a two-under, 278, to sit five strokes off the lead heading into round two at the Stanford Golf Course in Stanford, Calif.

All five Blazers finished the round within three shots of par, including Thomas Sutton who fired a two-under and is part of a 10-way tie for seventh place. Paul Dunne and Hunter Hawkins posted scored of one-under par and are tied for 17^th place overall.

No. 37 UAB is five shots behind opening round leader San Francisco (-7, 273), No. 2 California (-4) and No. 8 Stanford (-3). The Blazers are tied with conference rival No. 22 UCF and No. 38 Wichita State.

UCF:

UCF posted a first round score of two-under par at the NCAA Stanford Regional in Stanford, Calif., Thursday to sit in a three-way tie for fourth place after 18 holes. Ricardo Gouveia led the Knights with a two-under, 68, that included five birdies and currently is part of a 10-way tie for seventh place, just two shots behind the leader.

The No. 22 Knights are five shots behind the team leader, San Francisco, and just two shots behind No. 2 California and a stroke back of No. 8 Stanford. No. 37 UAB and No. 38 Wichita State both posted 278 in the opening round to equal the UCF tally.