Oklahoma in 6th After Round 1 of NCAA Championship
Patrick Welch and the Oklahoma Sooners are in sixth place after round one of the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Arizona.
The Sooners are seven-over par for the tournament and four-shots off the stroke play lead, currently held by Vanderbilt.
“At one point we were heading in a direction that wasn’t great and it felt like we did a great job coming down the stretch. We made the turn onto the front nine, and the flag sticks were just incredibly hard, especially on Nos. 1, 4 and 6. But I thought we did a good job on those holes, which I’m really proud of,” said Head Coach Ryan Hybl after the round.
Welch is tied for 101st in the tournament at six over par.
The Sooners are just four back of the lead, four clear of the match-play cut and nine clear of Sunday’s 54-hole cut.
Welch’s Day
Starting on the tenth hole, Welch bogeyed the 12th hole, before dropping a lengthy birdie putt on the 14th hole to get back to even par.
He then went bogey, double and bogey to shoot 39 on the opening nine.
On the front side, Welch birdied the second hole, bogeyed the fifth hole and then made a triple-bogey on the seventh hole.
The former Classical star closed on a positive note with a birdie on the ninth hole to shoot 76.