Men’s Golf Seventh After Day One At NCAA Bryan Regional

Men's Golf 5/14/2018 4:33:00 PM

BRYAN, Texas -- Senior Ethan Brue rebounded from a rough start to shoot a one-over 73 and is tied for 22nd in the field, while the Bradley Men's Golf team sits in seventh after the opening round of the NCAA Bryan (TX) Regional Monday at the par-72 Traditions Golf Club.

Bradley carded a nine-over 297 during Monday's action and is seventh in the team standings, four shots out of the top five. Regional host Texas A&M has two of the top three in the individual standings in Chandler Phillips and Brandon Smith, who are tied with Baylor's Cooper Dossey at four-under 68.

Texas A&M has a three-shot advantage on second-place Baylor (282) in the team standings at nine-under par 279. Clemson was one of three teams under par and is third at five-under 283, while UCLA closed Monday's action fourth overall at even par 288. South Carolina holds the fifth spot in the team standings (293), one shot in front of sixth-place Ole Miss (294) and four ahead of the Braves (7th - 297). Kentucky, which was ranked 24th in the latest Golfweek.com rankings, is one shot back of Bradley in eighth at 298. Mississippi State (9th - 300), Georgia (10th - 303), San Francisco (11th - 304), UNC Wilmington (T12th - 308) and Northern Colorado (T12th - 308) round out the team standings, respectively.

"It was a good first day," said Bradley head coach Jeff Roche. "We did a good job of staying with the game plan. I think we had to battle some nerves early on, but everyone stuck with it and battled hard."

Brue recovered from a triple bogey on the opening hole to finish at one-over 73 and is tied for 22nd overall. After pars on #2 & #3, Brue fired the first of his three birdies on the day on the par-4, 387-yard fourth hole in addition to providing one of several highlights of the day for the Braves with an eagle-2 on the par-4, 354-yard sixth hole to get back to even. Brue went on to shoot two birdies and three bogeys down the stretch en route to his opening round 73.

Junior Drake Bushong sat at three-over at the turn, carding six pars and a trio of bogeys only to fire a one-under on the back nine. Bushong birdied #10 to open the back and closed the day one shot behind Brue in a tie for 37th (74) with senior Zach Jewell.

Jewell was the only Brave under par on the front nine. After a bogey on the first hole, he regrouped to birdie the par-5 5th and 8th holes to finish at one-under on the front. In fact, Jewell birdied three of the four par-5's on the opening day and is tied for a tournament-best 3-under on the par-5's through 18 holes. As a team, Bradley is tied for third in the field at six-under on the par-5's heading into Tuesday's second round.

Junior Michael Mounce got off to a strong start, firing back-to-back birdies on the par-4 fourth and par-5 fifth to sit at two-under through five holes. Mounce closed Monday's action tied for 49th at 76 with senior Matthew Specht, who had a team-best five birdies on the day.

Specht was six-over at the turn despite back-to-back birdies on #5 and #6 and was seven-over through 14 before a late push. A birdie on the par-5, 551-yard 15th opened a closing stretch in which he birdied three of the final four holes. Specht had back-to-back birdies on #17 (par-4, 427-yard) and #18 (par-4, 444-yard) to fire a two-under (34) on the back and match Mounce's opening round 76.

Bradley will be paired with Kentucky and Mississippi State for Tuesday's second round with the groups tee times slated to start at 8:25 a.m. off the first tee.

Print Friendly Version