Odom's Owls struggle late in opening round of NCAA Championship stroke play

With only 15 of the 30 teams finished with Round 1, Vanderbilt leads Auburn by a narrow margin at the NCAA Men’s Division Golf Championship in Sugar Grove, Illinois.

The Commodores have players with holes 16 through 18 remaining in their opening round that was suspended for darkness late Friday. Vanderbilt is currently 8-under-par as a team.

The leading team in the clubhouse is Auburn at 6-under-par. All five Tigers have completed their first round.

Oklahoma State and Southern California were in third place and fourth place when play was suspended. The Cowboys stand at 5-under-par and the Trojans were 4-under-par when play was stopped. Both teams have players needing to complete holes 16-18 in their opening rounds.

Oklahoma, with Cartersville’s Jim Garren as an assistant coach, had players on holes 8 through 10 when play was halted. The Sooners are currently tied for 11th at even par.

The Sooners top player, Max McGreevy is 1-under-par through eight holes. Grant Hirschman is also 1-under-par through eight holes. Brad Dalke (EVEN through 10 holes); Rylee Reinertson (+2 through 9 holes); and Blaine Hale (+2 through 10 holes) round out the partial Sooner scores.

Oklahoma started on Hole 10 at the 7,300-yard Rich Harvest Farms Course, so the Sooners have most of the front nine to complete before beginning Saturday’s second round.

Play is scheduled to continue Saturday at 6:30 am CST. Teams that finished their opening rounds will begin the second round at 7:15 am CST.

Bryant Odom, also from Cartersville, is the head coach for Kennesaw State. The Owls were led in the opening round by sophomore Pablo Rodriguez-Tabernero Torres who shot an even-par 72.

KSU struggled down the stretch of round one, however, and finished the opening 18 holes at 9-over-par. The Owls are tied for 24th place.

Jake Fendt (73), Connor Coffee (75), Chris Guglielmo (77), and Teremoana Beaucousin (77) round out the remainder of the KSU scores.

"Overall it was a pretty good day, we just didn't finish well but I think our best golf is still ahead of us," head coach Bryant Odom said in a Kennesaw State University news release. "Chris (Guglielmo) played the last few holes pretty well so he got some momentum for tomorrow and Pablo had a good day overall with a hot start.

"It is tough out there and a championship course. The wind was blowing and it looks like we might have some weather coming in this afternoon, so you never know what is going to happen this afternoon," Odom said. "We're not out of it by any means. It is a disappointing finish but it is still early.”

The thirty team field will be narrowed to the top fifteen after 54-holes of stroke play that continues through Monday.

The top eight teams will begin match play Tuesday with the NCAA finals on Wednesday.

Teams (30): Alabama, Arizona State, Auburn, Baylor, University of Central Florida, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Illinois, Iowa State, Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, Kent State, Lipscomb, LSU, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, Pepperdine, Purdue, Southern California, Stanford, Texas, UNLV, Vanderbilt and Virginia.

"The greens weren't as fast as we thought they might be, so I think guys might have tentative in a few spots," Odom said. "Overall, there is a lot of pressure with it being a championship, but once you get into the round it is just like any other round. I think they will be a little more comfortable tomorrow, knowing to expect.

"We need everyone playing well early and we didn't have everyone doing that today," Odom added. "There are some birdies hole out there and I don't think we did that today. Number 18 for instance, we played it at 3-over par and we need to be at least even or under par on that hole. Going forward we just need to take advantage of the more scoreable holes and execute the best we can.”

TV Coverage:

Golf Channel NCAA Men’s Golf Championships Coverage (all times ET)

Monday, May 29

Individual National Championship

4-8 p.m. (Live)

Tuesday, May 30

Quarterfinals, Team Match Play

11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. (Live)

Tuesday, May 30

Semifinals, Team Match Play

4-8 p.m. (Live)

Wednesday, May 31