Monday, May 6, 2013

DUPONT, Wash. - Eight of the nine nationally top 25 ranked teams in the tournament are among the top 10 in the team standings after Monday’s first round at the NCAA Division II Men’s Golf South Central/West Regional being held at The Home Course, which measures 7,138 yards.

West Region No.1 seed Cal State Monterey Bay, rated No. 6 nationally, leads the 20-team field at 9-under par 279. Four strokes behind in second place at 5-under 283 is No. 10 Western Washington and third at 1-under 287 is No. 8 Abilene Christian.

They are followed by No. 11 Grand Canyon (288) and No.12 Cal State Stanislaus, tied for fourth at even par 288. Cal State Stanislaus won last year’s Central/West regional crown.

The only two non-ranked teams in the top 10 are Colorado-Colorado Springs and Dallas Baptist, the South Central’s No. 5 and No. 7 seeds, respectively.

They are in a four-way tie for sixth at 289 with No. 24 Chico State and No. 25 Midwestern State. No. 17 Hawaii Hilo is 10th at 290.

Dallas Baptist’s Kyle Beard is the medalist leader at 6-under par 66. He had seven birdies and one bogey.

In a three-way tie for second, one stroke behind, are Midwestern State’s Santiago Gomez, CSUMB’s Brandon Hortt and Newman’s Myles Miller.

Tied for fifth at 4-under 68 are Grand Canyon’s Ryan Mahoney and Paul Smith from Cal State Stanislaus.         

Two Western Washington players, Dylan Goodwin and Mark Strickland, are in a four-way tie for seventh at 3-under 69 with CSUMB’s Alex Sobstad and Colorado-Colorado Spring’s Kevin Witte.

“This is a great start to a major championship,” said WWU coach Steve Card (20th year). “I’m very happy with our position and how our team played.”

Twenty-five of the 108 players recorded under par rounds on a day that recorded temperatures in the mid-80s.  

The 54-hole tournament, which runs through Wednesday, is one of four regionals taking place across the country.

The South Central/West hosts are the Great Northwest Athletic Conference along with WWU and Saint Martin’s.

The top five team finishers and the top two individuals from non-qualifying teams will advance to the NCAA Division II Championships on May 20-24 at Hershey, Penn.

Tuesday’s action begins at 7:30 a.m.