No. 24 Utah Golf Ranks Seventh Through Day One at the Mark Simpson Invite

ERIE, Colo. – The No. 24 University of Utah Men’s Golf team concluded the first two rounds at the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational sitting in seventh place on Monday, improving its first-round score to trail the top 5 by just five strokes.
 
“It was a rough day for us, but I’m excited to see what the boys bring to the table tomorrow,” said head coach Garrett Clegg. “Golf isn’t a sport where you play great every single round, but today was a day where we just struggled. We still have tomorrow, and a great round tomorrow will move us up the leaderboard.”
 
The Utes are coming off back-to-back tournament titles to start the season and used a pair of similar rounds to play through 36 holes at Colorado National Golf Course. In the first round, all five Utah golfers were within two strokes of par as Brandon Robison and Gabriel Palacios led the squad 2-under while Sergio Jimenez finished even, and Braxton Watts and Davis Johnson shot over par. Across the next 18 holes, every Ute posted a score lower or the same as the opening round total.
 
Robison started the tournament with five consecutive even marks before a birdie and a double bogey to put him 1-overe heading into the back nine. To finish out the first 18 holes, the junior recorded three red marks and seven pars to score 2-under and in 17^th place on the leaderboard Robison’s game improved into the second round, racking up two more red scores and a bogey before turning to the back half of the course. An additional two more birdies put the Utahn 3-under and in a tie for 12^th.
 
Palacios also contributed a top 25 placement after day one in Colorado. The sophomore recorded three birdies in the first half of the course before bogeys on two of the first three holes in the back nine tightened Palacios’ score to 1-under. Another red score on the 15^th hole put Palacios 2-under and in a tie for 17^th place. Palacios used a similar round across the next 18 holes but fell seven spots into a 24^th place tie. In the first half of the course, Palacios tallied eight even scores with a double bogey. The back half was a stronger area for the Guatemala native, adding four birdies through the 12^th and 17^th holes. A bogey in the mix finished his round 1-under and 3-under for the day.
 
Johnson catapulted 25 spots on the leaderboard after the second round, finishing 2-over…