LIHUE, Hawai'i - Washington State University men's golf junior Daniel Kolar is tied for first with the 15th-ranked college golfer in the nation, Peter Kuest of BYU, after shooting a first-round score of 66 (-6) Thursday at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate, hosted by Hawai'i at Lihue, Hawai'i.
"Dan played really solid," White said. "We've felt like he was one round away from putting it all together and hopefully this will be the jumpstart he needs."
Kolar carded five birdies and an eagle on the day to lead the field. Texas A&M's Walker Lee is third (-5, 67), while Galven Green of New Mexico and Joe Fryer of Long Beash State are tied for fourth (-4, 68). No. 5 ranked Alex Smalley of Duke, No. 7 Chandle Eaton of Duke and No. 8 Chun An Yu of Arizona State join nine others in a tie for ninth at 70 (-2).
As a team, the Cougars shot a collective 295 (+7) in the first round of competition, putting them in 17th just two strokes behind 16th placed Long Beach State (+5, 293). No. 24 BYU (-8, 280) is in first, followed by No. 20 Texas A&M (-7, 281) in second and No. 11 Arizona State (-6, 282).
"We were a few holes from being in contention last week, and it was a couple holes today that got us in trouble, but there's a lot of golf left," head coach Dustin White said. "We'll hold our heads high and come out tomorrow, ready to go."
Three other teams, No. 48 St. Mary's (-4, 284), No. 2 Duke (-3, 285) and New Mexico (-1, 287), are under par so far, with two teams even through the first round, No. 32 North Carolina and UC Santa Barbara, even with a score of 288.
Senior Grant Cole (+3, 75) is currently tied for 64th, just one stroke in front of senior AJ Armstrong (+4, 76) in a tie for 76th. Juniors Nicklaus Chiam and Scott Redelsperger follow closely behind with a score of 78 (+6) in a tie for 98th.
The second round of competition continues Friday. Live results will be posted at golfstat.com, with a full-recap of the day's events being posted at wsucougars.com at the end of competition.
Team Scores
T1 Daniel Kolar: 66 (-6)
T64 Grant Cole: 75 (+3)
T76 AJ Armstrong: 76 (+4)
T98 NIcklaus Chiam: 78 (+6)
T98 Scott Redelsperger: 78 (+6)
