Led by an opening-round 71 (-1) from freshman Kyle Cornett (Mill Creek, Wash.), Seattle University finds itself in sixth place after the first day of the 2014 Western Athletic Conference Men’s Golf Championships, held at Stallion Mountain Golf Club.
Cornett took advantage of good scoring conditions, first making birdies on the fifth, sixth, and ninth holes to help him post a one-under-par front nine. After two bogeys early on the back nine, Cornett made birdie on the 14th and 18th holes down the stretch to post his fifth under-par round of the season and end the day in a tie for 11th place.
Ross Kukula (Ocean Park, Wash.) birdied the third and seventh holes to make the turn at even par before making three bogeys against just one birdie on the 13th hole to finish at 74 (+2), good enough for 27th place. Patrick Sato (Bellevue, Wash.) birdied three of his first 10 holes to maintain an even-par score before bogeys on five of the final eight holes along with a birdie on 15 ended his day in a tie for 30th place at 76 (+4).
Luka Karaula (Zapresic, Croatia) finished the front nine at one under par with birdies on the second and eight holes and was at one over par for his round until a quadruple bogey on 18 put him at 77 (+5) for the round, currently in a tie for 35th place. Also in a tie for 35th place at 77 (+5) is David Torres (Armenia, Colombia), who made five birdies during the day but hurt himself with a bogey-double bogey finish.
As a team, Seattle University combined for a score of 298 (+10), currently in sixth place but just one stroke behind fifth place Texas-Pan American. New Mexico State shot 272 (-16) to take a two-stroke lead over Idaho after the first round, with the Aggies’ Kenneth Fadke on top of the individual standings by two strokes after shooting 64 (-8) in the opening round.
The second round of the WAC Men’s Golf Championships will begin at 7 a.m. Saturday, May 3. The Seattle U golfers will be in the second wave of tee times, teeing off from the first hole every 10 minutes from 7:50 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.