Men’s Golf | May 16, 2022
Trojan freshman Jackson Rivera continued his strong postseason surge, firing a 4-under 68 to earn a share of the first-round lead and making his NCAA Championships debut a memorable one at the Stockton Regional at The Reserve at Spanos Park on Monday (May 16).
Rivera, a 2022 All-Pac-12 Second-Teamer and All-Freshman pick, is playing as an individual this week and gave his teammates something to cheer about with his team-best ninth round in the 60s this year.
He is part of a four-way tie for first in the 75-man field with another four tied at 3-under with some 20 more golfers also under par.
Rivera, seeded second among individuals, is after a berth into the main NCAA Championships set for May 27 to June 1 at Grayhawk G.C. in Scottsdale, Ariz. The low individual on a team not advancing out of each of the six regional sites will advance to Arizona.
He got off to a strong start today with a birdies on 1 and 2 en route to a 1-under front, a bogey on 9 his only blemish. He got to 3-under with birdies on 11 and 12 and kept his card clean ahead of a final birdie on 18.
“He was really solid today and played a pretty stress free round of golf,” USC Head Coach J.T. Higgins said. “He kept everything in front of him and had lots of birdie looks. Nothing spectacular but nothing stupid either. Just good golf.”
Said Rivera: “It was solid round overall and I didn’t make many mistakes. JT and I had a really good plan coming into today and executed it well.”
The effort upped Rivera’s team-leading totals to 18 rounds under par and 21 rounds of par or better. It also lowered his team-best stroke average to 71.77.
The NCAA Stockton Region continues Tuesday and Wednesday. Rivera tees off at 10:04 a.m. PT Tuesday.
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at USC Athletics…