Purdue 5 Out of 5th After Round 1 at Regionals

SALEM, S.C. – The Purdue men’s golf team didn’t play its best round, but made some timely birdies late to sit in ninth place after day one at the NCAA Salem Regional at the Cliffs at Keowee Falls.
 
The Boilermakers totaled a 5-under par 283 to trail fifth place by just five shots entering Tuesday’s second round. The top-five finishers will move to the NCAA National Championships in Scottsdale, Arizona, late next week.
 

Arkansas leads at 22-under par 266, while New Mexico is second at 16-under par. North Carolina is third at 15-under par, Northern Illinois is fourth at 13-under par. Georgia Tech (-10), Georgia Southern (-9), Texas A&M (-7) and Clemson (-6) round out the top eight.
 
The 13 teams in the field took advantage of near-perfect conditions, registering 305 combined birdies and 17 eagles. The average score for the 70 players in the field was 71.24 on the par-72 layout.
 
The Boilermakers struggled a bit on the outward nine, playing the opening nine in a combined 4-over par. However, Purdue righted the ship some on the back nine, playing the inward nine in 7-under par combined to remain in the hunt for one of the coveted five positions.
 
Leading Purdue was Herman Sekne and Nels Surtani, who are tied for 22^nd at 3-under par 69.
 
The tally marked Sekne’s ongoing school-record, 14^th round in the 60s, while now setting the career record for rounds in the 60s with 25. Surtani posted his sixth round in the 60s and 14^th round this year or even-par or better.
 
Nick Dentino fired a 1-under par 71, good for T-33, while Kent Hsiao and Peyton Snoeberger shot 2-over par 74s, good for T-56.
 
The Boilermakers will tee off round two at 9:25 a.m. ET, off hole No. 10, while being paired with Middle Tennessee State and San Diego State.