Oct. 31, 2011
SAN MARTIN, Calif. -- The No. 3 ranked Washington men's golf team got off to a fast start in Monday's first round of the Gifford Collegiate at CordeValle Golf Club, but a shaky back nine dropped them to fourth as they entered the clubhouse. The Huskies, competing in their first play-six, count-five formatted tournament, were a combined 6-under after the first nine holes. They could not keep it up on the back and shot +16. Washington's top five counting scorers ended up 4-over-par after combining to shoot 359, thanks largely to sophomore Trevor Simsby shooting a team-best 4-under 67. Among the 11 teams competing, USC leads after a first round 10-under 345. UCLA is second and 7-under, while Virginia is third at even-par 355. Oregon is fifth behind UW at +7. Simsby sits in fourth after day one and is four strokes behind first round leader Patrick Cantlay of UCLA. Cantlay, the No. 1 amateur in the world, shot a sizzling 63 to take a three shot lead into Tuesday's second round.
Simsby tried his best to catch Cantlay, but no one could get close to him. The UW sophomore from Carlsbad, Calif., was one of a handful of golfers who eagled the reachable par-4 No. 8th and he followed that with a birdie on No. 9 to make the turn at 5-under par. Simsby would bogey No.'s 10 and 11, before gaining a stroke back on No. 12 with a birdie. He shot par golf the rest of the way to lead the way for UW. The next best round among Huskies was 1-under 70 turned in by Chris Williams. The junior from Moscow, Idaho is tied for 9th. Williams was 3-under after 12 holes before bogeys on No.'s 13, 15 and 16 put him even. He needed a birdie on No. 18 to get back to 1-under for the round. Cheng-Tsung Pan is the only other Husky among the top-20 individuals. He shot 1-over 72 and is tied for 20th. Gerrit Chambers, making his first team start of the season, is fourth among Huskies after a first round 74. He is tied for 31st. Cory McElyea shot 76 (tied for 50th) and Charlie Hughes shot 77 (tied for 54th). Tomorrow's second round gets underway at 8:00 a.m. with the Huskies starting to tee off at 9:00 a.m. from No. 1.
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