Feb. 17, 2010

TUCSON, Ariz. – Arizona carded a first round 287 (-1) that put it in eighth place in the John A. Burns Intercollegiate. SMU and California are tied for the lead at 10 under.

While Arizona's top three golfers struggled, its numbers and five, Phil Bagdade and Brad Nicholson, carried the team with stellar performances. Sitting at two under, the two are tied for ninth.  

With two players in the top eight apiece, SMU, Cal and UNLV are atop the leader board after day one. Cal's Stephen Hale has the lead, while Eric Mina is tied for second along with SMU's Ben Tewes. Kelly Kraft of SMU is tied for fifth. UNLV is in third, one stroke out of first place. The Rebels are led by Derek Ernst and Jeremiah Wooding, who are also tied for second and fifth, respectively.

Both Bagdade and Nicholson are in position to pick up their first top-10 finishes of the season. Tarquin MacManus, who finished second in this tournament last year, is currently tied for 36th after carding an opening round 73 (+1). Jonathan Khan is one stroke behind MacManus and tied for 48th. Tom Conran, who is competing as an individual, is tied for 65th at four over. Fresh off winning the individual medal in the Arizona Intercollegiate, Rich Saferian shot a 79 (+7) on the day, tying him for 75th.

Either MacManus, Khan or Saferian has finished in the top two on Arizona's scorecard in 17 of the last 18 tournaments, a figure that dates back to MacManus and Khan's freshman season. In six of Arizona's last nine events, two of the three golfers have occupied both spots atop the team's scorecard. In contrast, neither Bagdade nor Nicholson have finished in the top two this season.

Round two will be held tomorrow, Feb. 18, with round three teeing off Feb. 19. Action will begin with shotgun starts at 8:00 a.m. (HST) each day. The John A. Burns Intercollegiate is held at the Leilehua Golf Course in Schofield Barracks, O'ahu, a par 72, 6,916 yard course.   

Top Five Teams

1 SMU                                     278 -10

   California                               278 -10

3 UNLV                                  279 -9

4 Nevada                                 281 -7

5 Texas A&M                          285 -3

Top Five Individuals

1 Stephen Hale California         65 -7

2 Eric Mina California               68 -4

   Derek Ernst UNLV               68 -4

   Ben Tewes SMU                   68 -4

5 Kelly Kraft SMU                   69 -3

   Zachary Blair BYU                69 -3

   Scott Smith Nevada               69 -3

   Jeremiah Wooding UNLV     69 -3

Arizona Finishers

T 9 Brad Nicholson                  70 -2

T 9 Philip Bagdade                   70 -2

T 36 Tarquin MacManus          73 +1

T 48 Jonathan Khan                 74 +2

T 65 Tom Conran*                   76 +4

T 75 Rich Saferian                    79 +7

* Competing as an individual