Welcome to the first day of the NCAA DI Men’s Golf Championship! The morning started off with a light rain that lasted the entire morning wave. Unsurprisingly, scores were lower in the afternoon once the rain tapered off.
The waves will switch tomorrow, with today’s afternoon wave going off early in the morning; what they gained in advantage through weather may be lost through fatigue thanks to the quick turnaround.
2024 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship Leaderboard After Round 1
Below are the overall leaders after the first day at Omni La Costa.
Team Leaderboard
T1. Virginia (+2)
T1. Arizona (+2)
3. North Carolina (+3)
4. Georgia Tech (+4)
T5. Illinois (+5)
T5. Auburn (+5)
7. Ohio State (+6)
8. Florida (+7)
T9. Texas (+8)
T9. East Tennessee State (+8)
T9. Notre Dame (+8)
T12. Vanderbilt (+9)
T12. Stanford (+9)
T12. Baylor (+9)
T15. Wake Forest (+10)
T15. Texas A&M (+10)
T17. Florida State (+11)
T17. New Mexico (+11)
T19. LSU (+13)
T19. Oklahoma (+13)
T21. SMU (+15)
T21. Oklahoma State (+15)
23. California (+16)
24. Tennessee (+17)
T25. Clemson (+18)
T25. Utah (+18)
T27. North Florida (+19)
T27. West Virginia (+19)
29. Texas Tech (+21)
30. Purdue (+22)
Top 10 Individuals
1. Hiroshi Tai (Georgia Tech, -5)
2. Adam Wallin (Ohio State, -4)
T3. Karl Vilips (Stanford, -3)
T3. John Dubois (Florida, -3)
T5. Johnny Keefer (Baylor, -2)
T5. Christo Lamprecht (Georgia Tech, -2)*
T5. Tiger Christensen (Arizona, -2)
T8. Luke Clanton (Florida State, -1)*
T8. Mats Ege (East Tennessee State, -1)*
T8. Jackson Kouvin (Auburn, -1)*
T8. David Ford (North Carolina, -1)
T8. George Duangmanee (Virginia, -1)
* Indicates player is on the Haskins Award Final Watch List
Morning Wave Leaders
In the rain, 15 teams and 3 individuals faced off against one another and the course. Adam Wallin of Ohio State maintained his early lead at 4-under until Hiroshi Tai birdied his last hole to go 5-under in the afternoon.
Ohio State as a team held the lead as well after the morning wave at +6.
Afternoon Wave Leaders
As the afternoon wore on, Hiroshi Tai of Georgia Tech kicked off his first round with a birdie and then got 6 more, finishing with a birdie as well. He may face similar rainy weather as Wallin did in the morning, so we’ll see if the lead holds.
As the teams wrapped up, Virginia and Arizona tied for the lead at 2-over. Of the 10 players among the two teams, there was only one double bogey – the rest of the scores were pars, birdies and bogeys, which is quite a feat given how difficult the course was playing; the player who shot a double bogey on Virginia’s team actually hit a cart path and had an unlucky bounce, so we can call that bad luck rather than poor skill.
Fun Highlights
While the scores weren’t as low as the women’s teams after Round 1, the men did score one more eagle than them. The 5 eagles today are split up among:
- Matthew Riedel (Vanderbilt), who shot a 3 on par-5 Hole #2.
- Tyler Isenhart (Baylor), who shot a 2 on par-4 Hole #4.
- William Sides (SMU), who shot a 3 on par-5 Hole #10.
- Jack Turner (Florida), who shot a 2 on par-4 Hole #11.
- Nathan Petronzio (Texas), who also shot a 2 on par-4 Hole #11 in a different pairing.
Unsurprisingly, Hiroshi Tai (Georgia Tech) has the most birdies after Round 1 (7), followed by 6 birdies from both Adam Wallin (Ohio State) and Matthew Watkins (New Mexico).
Stay tuned tomorrow as Fairway to Green continues to cover the NCAA Championship. Follow us live on Instagram (@fairwaytogreen) for real-time updates.
