BANDON, Ore. – Led by underclassmen, the Washington State men's golf team is in 10th place after the first round of the Bandon Dunes Championship, Sunday, at the Bandon Trails Golf Course.
On a day where none of the teams broke par, WSU (+22, 306) sits 16 strokes back of tournament-leader No. 11 Clemson (+6, 290). Missouri (+7, 291) and Seattle (+12, 296) are in second and third, respectively. In addition to being the top-three teams, Clemson, Missouri and Seattle each have a golfer tied for first.
“Overall it was a tough day,” WSU Head Coach Garrett Clegg said. “Conditions were difficult, but they were difficult for everybody. It's never fun to dig yourself out of a hole, but I'm confident we'll bounce back through the next two rounds.”
Freshman AJ Armstrong leads the Cougars and is tied for 18th after shooting 4-over par (75) on the day. Armstrong trails co-leaders Hayden Buckley of Missouri, Joe Harvie of Seattle, and Bryson Nimmer of Clemson by six strokes.
Fellow freshman Aaron Whalen and sophomore Derek Bayley trail Armstrong by one stroke and are tied for 23rd (+5, 76) with 10 other golfers. Junior Nick Mandell and senior Evan Omelia are tied for 50th after shooting 8-over (79) in the opening round.
The second round will begin Monday with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start. The final round will be played Tuesday at the same start time. Check golfstat.com for live scoring updates. A full recap will be posted at wsucougars.com following the end of the round.