Led by an opening round from sophomore Joe Harvie (Orting, Wash.) that put him at the top of the leaderboard, the Seattle University men’s golf team stayed with some of the top programs in the country, ending Sunday’s first round of the Bandon Dunes Championship, hosted by Gonzaga University at the Bandon Trails Course of the Bandon Dunes Resort, in third place.
Harvie birdied the par-five 16th hole, his second hole of the day, and then went on a run of three birdies in four holes. Later, he birdied the par-four 11th hole to move to four under par before back-to-back bogeys late in the day pushed Harvie back into a tie for first place with Hayden Buckley of Missouri and Bryson Nimmer of Clemson at two under par 71.
Jamie Hall (Seattle, Wash.) collected three birdies as he shot 73 (+2), ending the day in a tie for 11th place. Patrick Sato (Bellevue, Wash.) collected two birdies along the way as he completed the first round in a tie for 18th place at 75 (+4).
Kyle Cornett (Mill Creek, Wash.) struggled on both the ninth and 18th holes, but he posted par over 11 of his final 12 holes to finish at 79 (+8), good enough for a tie for 50th place. Ross Kukula (Ocean Park, Wash.) ended the day in a tie for 60th place after shooting 81 (+10) in the opening round.
As a team, Seattle U sits in third place with an opening-round score of 296 (+12), six strokes behind co-leaders Missouri and Clemson. The Redhawks are currently ahead of nationally-ranked Washington and Alabama-Birmingham, host school Gonzaga, and Pac-12 schools Washington State and Oregon State.
The second round is scheduled for Monday, March 7, with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. Seattle U golfers will tee off from holes one through four with golfers from Missouri, Clemson, and Washington.