Wonder Boys second after first day at NCAA Championships

DANIELS, W.Va. — Arkansas Tech junior Shawn Tsai had six birdies in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Men’s Golf National Championship to lead the field while the Wonder Boys were tied for second at the end of the day.

Tsai turned in a 5-under 69 to hold the lead by two strokes in the first round of the tournament. After hitting par on the opening hole, Tsai birdied three of his next four en route to finishing the front nine with a 4-under 32, and a pair of birdies on the back nine against a single bogey left him 1-under 35 to take the lead. Only one other golfer turned in six birdies on the day, Grand Valley State’s Mitchell White, who finished tied for third with a 2-under 70.

As a member of one of the first groups to tee off, Tsai had all afternoon to watch the leaderboard as the No. 25 Wonder Boys were tied with No. 5 Lincoln Memorial at an even 288 in the lead before the afternoon tee. No. 16 Cal State Monterey Bay had a birdie on each of its last two holes to take a single-stroke lead of 1-under 287.

Redshirt junior Austin Gean turned in an even-par 72 on the day as a bogey on one and 16 were balanced out by birdies on 11 and 12. Gean bogeyed his initial hole to finish the front nine with a 1-over 37, but he quickly turned things around with a pair of birdies on the back nine to pull to a 1-under 35 as he finished in a 12-way tie for 13th.

Freshman Andre Jacobs shot a 1-over 73 for a 14-way tie for 25th. After hitting par on the first two holes, he hit a hole-in-one on the 247-yard, par-3 third hole, but despite two birdies on the front nine, he hit four bogeys for an even 36. The No. 130 Division II golfer bogeyed two more along with a double-bogey on the 16th hole against three birdies to finish the back nine with a 1-over 37.

Twin Francois Jacobs struggled in his opening round as he carded a 4-over 76 to land in a 14-way tie for 62nd. He went

3-over on his first two holes before picking up a pair of birdies for a 1-over 37, but despite a third birdie on the back nine, he shot two bogeys and a double bogey on the final three holes for a 3-over 39.

Redshirt sophomore Kellen Gray started off well, but he struggled on the back nine to take a 4-over 76 to join the tie for 62nd. Gray hit par on eight of his opening nine with a bogey on eight for a 1-over 37, but three bogeys and a triple bogey canceled out his two birdies for a 3-over 39.

Two other golfers took the course today to represent the Great American Conference, both from Southeastern Oklahoma State — No. 3 Zach James and No. 61 Hayden Foster. James birdied three and bogeyed four to finish in a 14-way tie for 25th. Foster birdied five, but he hit seven bogeys and a double bogey for a 4-over 76 to join the tie for 62nd.

The pairings for today’s second round remain unchanged, but the five groups containing Arkansas Tech players move to an afternoon tee on No. 10. Gray’s trio leads off at noon EDT with his teammates groups teeing off every 11 minutes thereafter with Gean’s group taking the tee at 12:44 p.m. EDT.

The field will play another round of stroke play on Wednesday with the top eight advancing to the final three rounds of match play with the quarterfinals and semifinals played Thursday and finals on Friday. The individual medalist will be awarded at the end of Wednesday’s round.

The Wonder Boys advanced to the semifinals in 2017, and they reached the quarterfinals last year.