NW Washington News

The Western Washington University men's golf team completed the opening round of the Battle in the Desert Monday at the PGA West Mountain Court.

 

In a field featuring 11 top-50 ranked teams via Golfstat, the No. 22 Vikings are in 12th place through the first 18 holes of the 54-hole tournament. WWU opened with a 5-over-par team round of 293 on the par 72, 6,666-yard layout just outside of Palm Springs. 

 

The final group of four teams were not able to finish Monday's first round, so the tournament results are incomplete heading into Tuesday's second round.

 

Western heads into Tuesday's second round in a tightly-packed bunch with 10 teams separated by just five strokes. Tournament co-host Cal State San Bernardino leads the field at 5-under-par 283 with co-host Cal State Monterey Bay in 2nd place at 2-under-par 286.

 

The Vikings were once again led by senior Jordan Lee, who carded a 2-under-par 70 with four birdies to sit in a tie for 7th place in the in 80-player field. The reigning GNAC Golfer of the Week has now turned in 10 of 13 possible rounds this season at par or better. 

 

Senior Cody Oakes and junior Drew Halili are tied for 39th at 2-over-par 74 and sophomores Conrad Brown and Seth King tied for 51st at 3-over-par 75.

 

"It wasn't our best day to open the tournament, but it is a pretty tightly-bunched leaderboard," said WWU Director of Golf Luke Bennett. "We'll look to clean up our ball striking tomorrow which will hopefully lead to a few more birdies. The guys were super close today. Jordan (Lee) played solid from beginning to end to open the tournament."

 

The updated tournament results show Travis Bassio of Colorado-Colorado Springs, Keith Ng of Hawai'i Hilo and John Kim of Cal State San Bernardino in a three-way tie for individual medalist honors at 4-under-pr 68.

Original source can be found here