ETSU in 11th at 16-over-296

EUGENE, Ore. (May 15, 2014) – Junior Rhys Pugh (Pontypridd, Wales) paced the ETSU men’s golf team in Thursday’s opening round of the NCAA Regional as the Welshman fired a 2-over-par 72 and the Bucs sit in 11th-place at 16-over-par 296 at the Eugene Country Club.

Pugh enters Friday’s second round tied for 21st and is six shots off the individual lead, while ETSU – who is making its 23rd NCAA Regional appearance – is seven strokes behind the all-important fifth-place cut line. Pugh bogeyed two of his first five holes and couldn’t get back to even-par despite picking up birdies on No. 17 and No. 1, as he registered a bogey on No. 18 and No. 4 to move him back to 2-over for the round.

Stanford, the Pac-12 Conference champion and fourth-ranked team in the country, holds both the team and individual leads following first round play. The Cardinal fired a 4-under-par 276 and has a four-stroke advantage over No. 19 Oklahoma. South Carolina (No. 20) and North Florida (No. 56) are tied for third at 6-over 286, while host and 44th-ranked Oregon is fifth at 9-over-par 289.

Individually, Patrick Rodgers – the third-ranked golfer according to Golfstat – carded a 4-under-par 66, and is one-stroke ahead of Chris Robb (Chattanooga) and Kyle Westmoreland (Air Force).

The Blue and Gold sit ahead of No. 40 Tennessee and Big Sky Conference champion Northern Colorado. ETSU is three shots ahead of the Vols and 11 strokes better than Bears.

Sophomore Adrian Meronk (Wroclaw, Poland) is tied for 30th at 3-over 73, while freshman Mateusz Gradecki (Oborniki Śląskie, Poland) is tied for 48th (+5) and sophomore Chris Hickman (Centreville, Md.) is tied for 54th (+6).  

The top five teams in the regional advance to the NCAA Championship, which will be held May 23-28 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan.

The Bucs will be grouped with Wichita State and Tennessee in Friday’s second round as ETSU tees off at 11:55 a.m. EDT.

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