May 17, 2012

Xavier senior men's golfer Sebastian MacLean had a superb opening round at NCAA GOlf Regionals and is in fourth place after Thursday's first 18 holes.  THe Atlantic 10's team representatives, Charlotte and George Washington also played their Regional Opening Round Thursday.

MacLean turned in a 3-under-par 68 Thursday at the 2012 NCAA Ann Arbor Regional held at the par 71 (6723 yards) University of Michigan course. MacLean is just one shot off the lead heading into day two. As the top individual, he will tee off at 10:20 a.m. Friday morning from hole 10.

MacLean posted three birdies on the back nine, including back-to-back birdies on the par-four 15 and 16. He headed into the clubhouse with a 2-under 33 over the back nine holes.

Charlotte ground out a 12th-place first round performance at the NCAA Greensboro Regional to stay within striking distance for Friday's second round. Charlotte finished round one at 15-over par, 20 strokes out of first place and nine strokes out of the top five that will advance past round three into the 30-team NCAA Championships.

Seniors Olafur Loftsson, Rafael Guerrero and Tyler Mitchell all shot even par on the second nine as Charlotte battled to remain in contention.  The 49ers are just five strokes back of ninth-place Indiana and will be paired with 10th-place Florida (+11) and 11th-place Duke (+13) in round two.  The 49ers second round tee times will begin at 8:50.

Guerrero was six-over par after the first four holes, but played the final 14 in one-under par to finish at +5, 77.  Mitchell was five-over through the first five holes and played even-par over the final 13 to also finish at five-over par, 77.

Freshman Raoul Menard led the 49ers with a two-over par round of 74 while Loftsson shot three-over par 75 to pace the 49ers.

George Washington in 14th place through Round 1, also competing at the Greensboro Regional, with a combined score of 24-over par 312.

The Colonials tee off at 9:40 a.m. on Friday morning with hopes of shaving down their score at the par-72, 7,271-yard Grandover Resort East Course.

Senior Andres Pumariega was GW’s top performer on the day after shooting a 4-over 76. The Atlantic 10 All-Conference honoree is currently tied for 39th with 11 other players. Senior Taylor Fuqua shot a 5-over 77 and sits in a tie for 51st.

Freshman Jack Persons carded a 7-over 79 to tie for 60th and senior Martin Liu followed with an 8-over 80 to tie for 68th. Senior Brandon Rukin is in 74th after shooting a 14-over 86.

Liberty has the first round lead at five-under par, five strokes ahead of second-place SMU (E, 288).  Tulsa (+5), UNLV (+5) and Texas Tech (+6) round out the top five. The top five teams advacne to NCAA Finals.