Washington In 14th After First Round of Southern Highlands Collegiate

LAS VEGAS – The Washington men’s golf team got off to a fairly strong start to the Southern Highlands Collegiate on Sunday but faltered as the round wore on, finishing the opening round tied for 14^th.
 
As a team, UW carded nine birdies on an unrelenting desert course, hitting the clubhouse 24 shots over par. No. 2 ranked Auburn was the only team to post a red number in round one, leading the pack at one-under.
 
“It was a really brutal day conditions wise and it was an extreme challenge out there,” head coach Alan Murray said. This is a super golf course and the greens are really awesome. To putt on them in 30-45 mph winds was a real grind.”
 
Finn Koelle paced the Huskies in the opening round, mixing three birdies with six bogeys for a +3, tied for 22^nd. Freshman Jake Foley is one shot back of his sophomore teammate, carding a 76 to tie for 30th.
 
“Finn is our best player and we place a heavy burden on him,” Murray said. “His scores don’t reflect how well he is doing a lot of things. he keeps progressing and a big tournament is not far away for him.
 
“Jake birdied two of his last three, which was impressive and his calm nature was a real asset in these conditions.”
 
Fellow freshman Jack Murphy is a few shots back at seven-over, tied for 59^th, while Drew Warford and Abel Derksen round things out for the Huskies at 10 and 11-over, respectively.
 
“Jack had a couple of loose tee shots that cost him and he struggled with his shorter putts in the strong winds,” Murray said. “This was a good learning experience for him on these type of greens. Drew and Abel really struggled and they will be eager for round two to start so they can give a better account of themselves.”
 
Washington will tee off from hole 10 to start round two, beginning at 10:20 a.m. PT. The Huskies will be paired with Georgia and SMU.
 
“We will digest today and talk about how we can do things better tomorrow,” Murray concluded. “For our freshmen an event like this is such a great learning experience and it was a day that was unforgiving. Although we hoped for a higher position on the leaderboard it was honestly a day that we got better.”

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