FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The No. 11 Auburn men's golf team is just two strokes from the top of the leaderboard after the first round of the 2019 NCAA Championship Friday afternoon. The Tigers shot a 4-over 292 and trail No. 1 Oklahoma State by a pair of strokes.
All 30 teams shot over-par in their first circuit of The Blessings – a par-72, 7,550-yard course.
"It was tough out there," head coach Nick Clinard said. "The wind really picked up on the back nine. There's some tough holes, some 515-yard, par-4s. We've just got to manage our games. We let a few slip away at the end on the No. 17 par-3. We made some mistakes, but hopefully we'll rebound and play a little bit better tomorrow."
Jacob Solomon led the way with a 1-under 71 and is tied for sixth overall. He was one of only 11 players to card a below-par round.
Solomon carded a team-best six birdies spread evenly across the front and back nine. The senior started his round well with three birdies on the opening five holes.
"I played pretty well today," Solomon said. "I probably played better than I actually scored it, but I'm definitely really happy. It's a hard golf course, so shooting under-par is an accomplishment."
Brandon Mancheno turned in an even-par 72 and is tied for 12th. Despite bogeys on two of his first three holes, the sophomore caught fire with three birdies on the final six holes of the back nine.
Mancheno's putter was working all afternoon as he knocked in a pair of 20-foot putts to claim birdies on the seventh and eighth holes.
Jovan Rebula tied for 21st after carding a 1-over 73, while Trace Crowe is tied for 53rd after turning in a 4-over 76.
Graysen Huff rounded out the lineup with a 5-over 77. He is tied for 69th overall.
Oklahoma State leads the field at 2-over (290) with three teams within two shots, including Stanford (291), Auburn (292) and Cal (292). The rest of the top 10 after the first round includes Texas A&M (296), Wake Forest (296), Ohio State (297), Texas (298), Georgia (300), Arizona State (302) and Clemson (302).
The Tigers return to action Saturday morning as they're paired with Cal and Stanford off the No. 10 tee, beginning at 8:07 a.m. CT. Live scoring is available on Golfstat.com.
Team Scores
1. Oklahoma State: +2 (290)
2. Stanford: +3 (291)
T-3. Auburn: +4 (292)
T-3. Cal: +4 (292)
T-5. Texas A&M: +8 (296)
T-5. Wake Forest: +8 (296)
7. Ohio State: +9 (297)
8. Texas: +10 (298)
9. Georgia: +12 (300)
T-10. Arizona State: +14 (302)
T-10. Clemson: +14 (302)
T-12. USC: +16 (304)
T-12. North Carolina: +16 (304)
T-14. Oklahoma: +17 (305)
T-14. Liberty: +17 (305)
T-14. South Carolina: +17 (305)
T-17. Georgia Tech: +19 (307)
T-17. Vanderbilt: +19 (307)
T-19. Georgia Southern: +20 (308)
T-19. SMU: +20 (308)
T-19. LSU: +20 (308)
22. North Florida: +21 (309)
23. UNLV: +22 (310)
T-24. TCU: +23 (311)
T-24. Illinois: +23 (311)
26. Pepperdine: +24 (312)
T-27. Duke: +25 (313)
T-27. Louisville: +25 (313)
29. Baylor: +26 (314)
30. BYU: +34 (322)
Auburn Individuals
T-6. Jacob Solomon: -1 (71)
T-12. Brandon Mancheno: E (72)
T-21. Jovan Rebula: +1 (73)
T-53. Trace Crowe: +4 (76)
T-69: Graysen Huff: +5 (77)
"It was tough out there."
— Jeff Shearer (@jeff_shearer) May 25, 2019
🗣@AuburnMGolf HC Nick Clinard, @JacobCSolomon & Brandon Mancheno recap round one at #NCAAGolf
AU (+4) is T3, 2 shots behind leader Oklahoma State.
Top 15 teams after 3 rounds make the cut, then top 8 after 4th round advance to match play. pic.twitter.com/WHotW2c8uh