April 7, 2006
AUBURN --- The Auburn men's golf team fired a 2-over 290 to hold a two-shot lead after the first round of the Billy Hitchcock Intercollegiate at the par 72, 7275-yard Auburn University Club Friday behind junior Andrew Medley's 2-under 70.
Medley is tied for the individual lead with with Memphis' Ian Rochester, who won last year's Hitchock as a freshman. They have a one-shot lead over UAB's Peter O'Keefe and are two shots ahead of a trio of golfers including Auburn's Stuart Moore and Charlotte's Ray Sheedy and Jonas EnanderHedin at even par 72.
Charlotte is in second with a 292 followed by Memphis (296), Southeastern Louisiana (297), Jacksonville State (300), Ole Miss (300), UAB (303), North Florida (304), College of Charleston (310), Mercer (310), Mississippi State (311) and South Alabama (313).
Senior All-SEC Stuart Moore is tied for fourth with an even-par 72. Sophomore Jay Moseley carded a 1-over 73 and is tied for seventh while sophomore All-SEC Patton Kizzire is tied for 22nd at 3-over 75. True freshman Glenn Northcutt is tied for 32nd at 4-over 76 while redshirt freshman Keith White and sophomore Steven Groover, who are both playing as individuals, are tied for 12th at 2-over 74.
"We had a good round today," head coach Mike Griffin said. "It was a board day today. We'll see what happens as things go on. Tomorrow will be a move day.
"I told our guys that some holes play real easy if you hit the ball where you are supposed to. It is more difficult if you hit it where you are not supposed to. You must have both hands on the wheel. In playing the safe shot, you've got to be aggressive."
Medley started the day with two early bogeys and was 2-over after three holes. The Athens, Ala., native quickly rebounded with birdies on two of the next three holes and turned at even-par. He had two more birdies on the day to finish with a 70.
"I got off to a rough start," Medley said. "I was 2-over after three, so I tried to get shots back when I could. I knew there where some birdie shots still left out there, and after the rough start I was fortunate enough to find some."
"Andrew was hitting his iron shots crisply and he has not been doing that lately, said Griffin. "His iron shots have been letting him down in earlier tournaments, but he hit a lot of good iron shots today."
Rochester birdied three consecutive holes to open the back nine and held the tournament lead when he was 4-under through 12 holes. The Memphis sophomore then bogeyed the next three holes before closing with a birdie and two pars. En route to last year's individual title at the Hitchock, Rochester double-bogeyed the 18th hole to shoot a 7-under 65 in the first round.
North Florida's Miguel Ondonez fired the shot of the day with a hole-in-one on the par-3 second hole. He is tied for 12th at 2-over 74.
Second round action begins Saturday at 8:00 am with Auburn teeing off at 10:40 am in the final group with Charlotte and Memphis. Live scoring can be found at www.bamagolf.com.