Virginia Opens NCAA Play in 25th Place

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Toledo, Ohio – The Virginia men’s golf team had to battle through wet and windy conditions during the opening round of play at the 112th NCAA Championships taking place at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. Playing in the morning wave, the 22nd-seeded Cavaliers shot 22-over 306 to tie for 25th after the first day of competition. Virginia, and the other 12 teams playing in the morning wave, had to contend with a steady rain for about half of the round in addition to the windy conditions that hampered the entire field all day.

Also shooting 306 were 19th-ranked UCLA and No. 35 Oregon. Second-ranked USC, fifth-ranked Stanford and No. 13 South Carolina are one shot ahead of those three teams at 305.

Top-ranked Georgia and fourth-ranked Oklahoma State took the early lead shooting 4-over 288. Chattanooga, ranked No. 28, is third at 292 while No. 6 Washington and San Diego are tied for fourth at 293.

After 54 holes of stroke play, the field will be cut to eight teams and those schools will compete in head-to-head match play Friday and Saturday to determine the national champion.

“We started off pretty well and then hit a rough patch on holes six through nine,” said UVa coach Bowen Sargent. “We certainly didn’t get the best of the weather today. It was windy for everyone, but those of us playing early also had to contend with the rain. But that’s golf.”

Starting on the first tee, the Cavaliers finished their first four holes at even par. The end of the front nine was another story. As the rain picked up, UVa’s four scoring players shot 11-over the final four holes.

“If the weather stays the same and we can go out and shoot two really good rounds, we can probably get back into this,” Sargent said. “You just have to be patient with this course. You can’t get overly aggressive and try to attack it. You have to drive it in the fairway here. All of our players said they were able to score on the holes they were able to keep it in the fairway. When they didn’t, they weren’t able to score.”

Freshman Ben Kohles led the Cavaliers with a 4-over 75 to finish the day in 56th place. Virginia’s top finisher at the NCAA East Regional, Kohles posted six bogeys and two birdies during his round.

“That was a pretty solid round for a freshman,” Sargent said. “He’s done some outstanding things for us this year and it is good to see him get off to a good start for us at our national championship.”

Three other Virginia players rounded out the Cavaliers’ scoring with 6-over 77s to place 93rd. That group included freshman Bruce Woodall, sophomore Will Collins and junior Kyle Stough. Woodall posted a pair of birdies over his first four holes to start his round under par. Bogeys on holes six and seven brought him back to even before a double-bogey on No. 9 put him two-over at the turn. He managed another birdie on No. 11, but ended the day with bogeys on five of his final seven holes.

Collins also struggled on the back nine with five bogeys and four pars. Stough used his final stretch of holes to bring his score back down. He played his final eight holes at 2-under thanks to birdies on No. 12 and No. 14. Conrad Von Borsig, a senior who was not a counter after finishing with an opening-round 80, played the final nine holes at even par. Von Borsig is in 139th place.

The championship’s individual lead was shared by Northwestern’s Jonathan Bowers, Illinois’ Scott Langley and NC State’s Matt Hill at 2-under 69. Only eight players in the 155-man field managed to better par at the historic Inverness Club.

The Cavaliers will start their second round Wednesday at 12:59 p.m. from the 10th tee. Virginia is paired with Northwestern and Ohio State during the first two days of competition. Thursday’s pairings for the final round of stroke play will be based on the team standings.

Live scoring of the event is online at Golfstat.com.

NCAA Championships
Inverness Club
Toledo, Ohio
Par-71, 7,255 yards
First Round Results

Team Results
1. Oklahoma State (4) 288
1. Georgia (1) 288
3. Chattanooga (28) 292
4. Washington (6) 293
4. San Diego 293
6. Arizona State (14) 294
6. Ohio State 294
6. Tennessee (20) 294
9. Michigan (45) 296
10. Arkansas (9) 297
10. Duke (42) 297
12. Texas A&M (12) 298
12. Northwestern 298
12. Alabama (10) 298
15. Illinois (15) 299
15. TCU (16) 299
17. UCF (23) 300
18. Georgia Tech (7) 301
18. Iowa 301
20. Wake Forest (27) 302
21. Texas Tech (17) 303
22. USC (2) 305
22. Stanford (5) 305
22. South Carolina (13) 305
25. Oregon (35) 306
25. Virginia (47) 306
25. UCLA (19) 306
28. Texas (24) 308
29. Florida (8) 310
29. Arizona (36) 310
Number in parenthesis is Golfstat ranking

Individual Leaders
1. Jonathan Bowers, Northwestern 69
1. Scott Langley, Illinois 69
1. Matt Hill, NC State* 69
4. Alex Ching, San Diego 70
4. Tom Hoge, TCU 70
4. Philip Francis, UCLA 70
4. David Holmes, Tennessee 70
4. Nick Taylor, Washington 70
9. Simon Ward, UCF 71
9. Fredrik Qvicker, Chattanooga 71
9. Corey Nagy*, Charlotte 71
9. Russell Henley, Georgia 71
9. Trent Leon, Oklahoma State 71
9. Jamie Marshall, Arkansas 71
9. Brian Harman, Georgia 71
*Individual competitor

Virginia
56. Ben Kohles 75
93. Bruce Woodall 77
93. Will Collins 77
93. Kyle Stough 77
139. Conrad Von Borsig 80