Las Vegas- Round 1 of the Fall 2017 Nationals kicked off on Saturday. The highly touted field lived up to the hype as some teams were able to go low in the desert. Both the National Championship and Invitational are still very much up for grabs.
Arizona State backed up their #1 ranking entering the day by firing a National Championship record team score of -4 in the first round. Ben Harden and Brian Seo led the Sun Devils with a pair of 69’s while a 71, 72 and 75 counted as their final scores. Their scores were good enough to give them an 11 shot cushion over Florida heading into the final round.
Florida was led by a tournament best 67 from Michael Hodgins, who carded 13 pars and 5 birdies during his bogey-free round. Minnesota, Virginia Tech and Alabama round out the top 5 heading into Sunday.
>>Check out Day 1 Scores>>
21 club golfer’s turned in scores of par or better during yesterday's ideal conditions; besides the small gusts here and there it is hard to find much better golf weather. The Snow Mountain course had an average score today of 77.9 while The Wolf course played to an average of 81.7 meaning there is a definite chance that Minnesota or Alabama could close the gap on Sunday.
Clemson jumped out to a first round lead in the inaugural National Invitational, they were led by a 75 from Christopher Sells and a 76 from Connor Blackwelder. Clemson also counted a 77, 78 and 79 giving them a first day total of 385 which gives a three shot cushion over Arizona State (B). Robert Morris, GAA Carlsbad and New Hampshire round out the top 5.
Brian Blessing (GAA Carlsbad) and Andrew Barone (GAA Myrtle Beach) fired the low scores on Saturday with a pair of 71’s. 48 golfers fired rounds in the 70s and the average score ended up at 82.3.
