Well, I don’t know if that was the way most teams wanted to start their first-round of the NCAA Championships. Not one team shot under par on the first day at Riviera C.C. But that doesn’t mean that players didn’t shoot well.
Atop of the leader board is UCLA sophomore Anton Arboleda who shot a first-round 4-under-par. While on the team leaderboard, Alabama shot the low score of the day with a 1-over-par team total. Leading the way was Player of the Year hopeful freshman Justin Thomas, who shot a 1-under-par 71.
The Pac-12 teams seemed to struggle a lot yesterday even though that was basically Riviera is the home course for UCLA and USC. UCLA didn’t struggle as much shooting 5-over-par 289, ending in a tie for third, but USC couldn’t put anything together. Their lowest score to count was a 2-over-par, and their highest was a 5-over-par, ending with a 298, 14-over-par. With those scores, USC won’t make it to the match play round.
Other notable teams: The No. 1 team in the land Texas shot a 6-over-par 290 as a team. Freshman standout, Jordan Spieth, started his first ever NCAA Championship with a 2-over-par 73. While senior POY candidate Dylan Frittelli, tied for low team honors with a 1-over-par 71. California didn’t get off to the start they wanted either. Brandon Hagy was the only member of the team to card an even-par. Auburn lead by Blayne Barber and Dominic Bozzelli, played well as the No. 4 seed in the tournament. Each player shot a 2-under-par leading their team to a 4-over-par total for the first day. And to round out the top-5 teams is UCLA. With Arboleda pacing the Bruins, the team finished in a tie for fourth after the first day.
Surprises: Iowa, Florida State, and UCF finished the first day in the magical top-eight, shooting team rounds of 290.
Be sure to follow all of the scores throughout the day right here: http://www.ncaa.com/content/di-mens-golf-individual-leaderboard
