Oct. 24, 2008
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - The Auburn men's golf team carded a 7-over 295 to finish tied for seventh after a stormy opening round of the Bank of Tennessee at the par-72, 7,147-yard Ridges Golf Club on Friday.
The Tigers were 1-under after making the turn, but dropped eight strokes to the back nine, finishing the day seven strokes off round-one leaders and tournament host East Tennessee State.
"We're all cold and soaking wet," said head coach Mike Griffin. "We got about nine holes in and, all of a sudden, the wind started kicking up and we started shooting high numbers," said head coach Mike Griffin. "It hit us right when we made the turn.
"With the difficulty of the last stretch of holes and as poorly as we played coming off the back nine, I'd say we were a little fortunate to have not lost more strokes. It's not uncommon on this course for players to lose two or three strokes coming in."
Junior Cole Moreland scored his third consecutive round under par with a team leading 71, tying for second individually. Birdies on Nos. 1 and 8 put Moreland at 2-under after the half-way point, but bogies on 10 and 12 dropped him back to even par. Striking back with a birdie on the No. 14, a downhill par-5, Moreland went into the clubhouse as the only Tiger to shoot under on the day.
True freshman Kyle Kopsick (72) is tied for 11th, finishing the day at even-par after countering a pair of bogies to with birdies on holes 8 and 15.
Redshirt freshman Rossen Anderson (75) is tied for 40th, senior Glenn Northcutt (77) is tied for 52nd and redshirt freshman Cory Gilmer (79) is tied for 64th.
Gilmer was 1-under par through 13 holes but the weather got the best of him on the home stretch, losing eight strokes over his next four holes including a triple-bogey on No.14.
"The wind was right in his face," said Griffin. "It's a tougher hole with the wind in your face. It was like a gale coming right at us - 20-25 mph winds. I'm pleased we only lost what we did coming in."
"Cole (Moreland) and Kyle (Kopsick) shot the rounds we needed to keep in this thing. Rossen (Anderson) kept it together. He missed a lot of little puts. These greens will give you fits. They are the fastest greens we'll see all fall."
Tournament host East Tennessee State (288) is currently in the lead after round one, followed by Coastal Carolina (290), NC State (290), Wake Forest (291), Ole Miss (292), UAB (293), Auburn (295), Missouri (295), Vanderbilt (297), North Carolina (299), Tennessee (299), Virginia (300) Ohio State (303) and Kent State (310).
NC State's Matt Hill (70) is currently in the individual lead followed by an eight-way tie for second. Auburn is set to tee off at 10:10 a.m. EST from the front nine Saturday with Missouri and Vanderbilt. Live scoring will be available via www.golfstat.com.