LA QUINTA, Calif. — The Vanderbilt men’s golf team stands in third place after a strong first day in the The Prestige at PGA WEST at the TPC Stadium Course.
Senior Hudson Johnson and junior Ryan Haselden paced the Commodores on Sunday, each shooting two-under 70s in the event’s opening round. Vanderbilt (-3) is five strokes back of leader UCLA (-8), and three behind co-host Stanford (-6), with 36 holes to play. The event’s other host, UC Davis (-1), is the only other team under-par.
Johnson and Haselden are tied for seventh place, but the duo took different paths to go two-under. Johnson birdied five of the first 15 holes against only one bogeys before bogeys on 17 and 18 brought him back to minus-2 — two back of Stanford’s Sihwan Kim and TCU’s Johan de Beer. Haselden opened with a double-bogey, but would get back to even-par with birdies on five and eight before playing the back at minus-2.
Sophomore Trey DelGreco also had a nice day for the Commodores, carding a one-under 71 with three birdies and two bogeys. DelGreco sits in a tie for 10th place after day one. Senior Chris Rockwell posted a two-over 74 to stand in a tie for 31st in the field of 80 golfers. Sophomore Ben Klaus rounded out the Commodores’ day with a four-over 76.
The 13-team field includes five teams ranked in the most recent Golf World/Nike Golf Division I Coaches’ Poll.
Eighteen holes are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, with tomorrow’s shotgun start sending the Commodores off on holes one through four at 12:30 p.m. PT with UCLA, Stanford and UC-Davis. Tuesday’s final round is scheduled to begin at 7:30 a.m.
The TPC Stadium Course at PGA WEST measures 7,026 yards and is playing to par 72 this week.
