UTEP Men�s Golf Finishes Day One Of NCAA Regional In 11th Place

SAMMAMISH, Wa.- The UTEP men’s golf team finished day one of the 2017 NCAA Washington Regional in 11th place, shooting 13-over 297 at the Aldarra Golf Club (par-71/6,885 yards) in Sammamish, Wash. Leading the 14-team field is Florida State with 6-under 278, who entered the tournament as the fourth seed.

The country’s top-ranked team in Southern California is two strokes behind the leader with 4-under 280 and the Trojans’ Sean Crocker leads the field individually with 7-under 64. Round two will begin tomorrow at 9 a.m. MT.

The top five teams from each of the six regional sites will advance to the national championships at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill. on May 26-31. 

“We played the par-5s terrible today,” sixth-year head coach Scott Lieberwirth said of his team’s performance. “It’s a difficult course, we had at least six bogeys, if not more on par-5s and out here you can’t do that. Charlie [Corner] had a nice round and Aaron [Terrazas] hung in there pretty tough, but after that we really couldn’t get anything going. We’ve kind of prided ourselves on our consistency top to bottom, but we didn’t get that today. We had two guys that played well and the rest didn’t show.”

Charles Corner led the Miner squad with a round of 70 to sit in a tie for 10th place. The junior birdied on holes no. 5, no. 11, and no. 17, while only bogeying twice to complete the opening round as the only Miner to shoot under par. Corner is also tied for third in par-4 scoring (3.78, -2). Aaron Terrazas is in a tie for 27th with 2-over 73, while matching Corner’s birdies with three of his own no. 7, no. 9, no. 13. Terrazas is tied for third in par-3 scoring (2.80, -1) and bogeyed five times.

In an unusual spot is senior Frederik Dreier, who sits just outside of the top-50 in a tie for 52nd with 5-over 76. Dreier, who is ranked no. 93 in Golfstat rankings, collected a birdie on hole no. 7 and bogeyed six times. Nicklas Pihl shot 7-over 78 for a share of 62nd, while Andreas Sorensen is one stroke behind with 8-over 79 to tie for 67th. Pihl collected two birdies on holes no. 12 and no. 13, while also tying for third in par-3 scoring (2.80, -1).

“We have to do a better job of executing,” Lieberwirth said. “We’ve got a better feel for the golf course now, that will help. We know the types of shots we have to hit, we just have to do a better job. We were kind of all over the place, missing in spots that we shouldn’t have missed and making life much harder than it should have been.”

The tournament will run through Wednesday, live stats will be available via golfstat.com