UVa Golfers Open NCAA Championships in 25th Place

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Ooltewah, Tenn. – The 19th-ranked Virginia men’s golf team is in 25th place after Tuesday’s opening round of play at the NCAA Championships at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tenn. Playing in the morning wave and starting on the 10th hole, Virginia shot 12-over 300.

Oklahoma State and Florida State share the first round lead at 5-under 283. Top-ranked Oregon is in third place a 284.

Following 54 holes of play, the field will be cut and the top eight teams will advance for head-to-head match play to determine the NCAA Champion. The individual champion will be crowned at the conclusion of stroke play.

Arizona State’s Jesper Kennegard and Augusta State’s Henrik Norlander share the overall lead at 4-under 68. A group of 10 other players trails them on the leaderboard by one stroke.

The Cavaliers got their opening round off to a rocky start when UVa’s four scoring players stood a combined 8-over through the team’s first four holes. From that point Virginia settled down and played its final 14 holes at a combined 4-over par.

“I don’t know if we were a little asleep this morning or what, but we started off very slow,” said Virginia coach Bowen Sargent. “I thought they played great from about the 15th hole on in, which oddly enough was the hardest stretch on the course between 15, 16 and 18. They seemed to handle those holes pretty well.”

Ben Kohles led Virginia’s effort with an even par 72. He had two birdies and a pair of bogeys and played his final nine holes at 1-under.

Kyle Stough and Will Collins both shot 2-over 74. Stough started his round with a double bogey and was at 4-over after his first four holes. After back-to-back pars he got hot with his putter and made three birdies over a five-hole stretch. He closed out his round with seven consecutive pars.

“Kyle really battled back,” Sargent said. “To come back and shoot 74 was a heck of a round. I am really proud of him and what he did today. Will played really solid and it was a shame he had a double bogey near the end. He was solid all day. He hit the ball great as did Ben.”

Amory Davis was UVa’s other scoring player. He shot 8-over 80 during a round that saw him post 10 bogeys and two birdies.

Henry Smart shot 10-over 82 while playing in his first NCAA Championship event for the Cavaliers.

Virginia will start its second round Wednesday at 1:17 p.m. from the first tee. The Cavaliers will be paired with Penn State and Illinois.

“Our guys know they can play this place now and that’s good,” Sargent said. “They should feel pretty good going into the second round after the way we finished today. We were getting killed early and they battled back and played pretty well for a long time today. They should take some confidence from that.

“You have to respect this golf course because it is hard. At the same time, if you play smart, you can score. A lot of teams proved that today.

Virginia is playing in the NCAA Championships for the third consecutive year, the first time in the program’s history the Cavaliers have managed three straight trips to nationals. Virginia was 26th at the 2008 NCAAs and placed 27th last year. The Cavaliers are seeded 26th in this year’s field that includes 26 teams ranked in the current Golfstat top-30 poll.

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

NCAA Championships
The Honors Course
Ooltewah, Tenn.
Par 72, 7,395 yards
First-Round Results

Team Results
1. Oklahoma State 283
1. Florida State 283
3. Oregon 284
4. Texas A&M 285
5. Arizona State 286
5. Clemson 286
7. Florida 287
7. Augusta State 287
9. Washington 289
10. Texas 290
10. Georgia Tech 290
12. Kent State 292
12. Stanford 292
12. North Florida 292
15. California 293
16. Baylor 294
16. UNLV 294
16. San Diego 294
16. UCLA 294
20. USC 295
20. Oregon State 295
22. Duke 296
23. Georgia Southern 297
23. Tennessee 297
25. Virginia 300
26. Penn State 301
27. TCU 302
27. Texas Tech 302
29. LSU 303
30. Illinois 304

Individual Leaders
1. Jesper Kennegard, Arizona State 68
1. Henrik Norlander, Augusta State 68
3. Alex Ching, San Diego 69
3. Phillip Choi, Florida 69
3. Luke Hopkins, Clemson 69
3. Sealth Lauer, Florida State 69
3. Lance Lopez, Texas 69
3. Ryan O’Rear, Baylor 69
3. Wes Roach, Duke 69
3. Peter Uihlein, Oklahoma State 69
3. Pontus Widegren, UCLA 69
3. Eugene Wong, Oregon 69

Virginia Results
36. Ben Kohles 72
65. Will Collins 74
65. Kyle Stough 74
146. Amory Davis 80
152. Henry Smart 82