Cowboys grab early lead at The Prestige

LA QUINTA, Calif. — Oklahoma State’s men’s golf team opened play at The Prestige presented by Charles Schwab with a 278 total on Monday to hold a one-stroke lead at PGA West’s Greg Norman Course.

With their 6-under total, the top-ranked Cowboys finished the day one stroke better than LSU at the par-71, 7,100-yard layout. UCLA came in third at 2-over 286.

Individually, Brandon Wu of Stanford fired a 6-under 65 to lead by three.

Four players finished the day tied for second place at 3-under 68 with OSU’s Viktor Hovland and Austin Eckroat being among them.

Hovland carded pars on his first five holes before posting his lone bogey of the day at the sixth. The junior moved back to level for the day with a birdie at the ninth. He came in with a 3-under 33 on his inward nine that was bogey-free and featured birdies at Nos. 11, 13 and 14.

Eckroat carded an even-par outward nine that included three birdies. He moved to 4-under on his round with birdies at Nos. 11, 12, 15 and 16. The sophomore carded a bogey at the last to finish at 3-under for the day.

Joining his teammates in the top 10 was Matthew Wolff, who enters the event on a four-tournament winning streak. The sophomore posted an opening 69 to stand in a tie for sixth place.

Senior Zach Bauchou carded a 73 to finish the day tied for 24^th place, while classmate Hayden Wood’s 77 tied him for 56^th place.

Freshman Aman Gupta is competing individually at the event and is tied for 11^th place after signing for a 70.

OSU will begin its second round tomorrow at 9:20 a.m. (PST) and will be grouped with UCLA and LSU.

Live streaming for the event’s final two rounds will be available at Golfweek.com/ThePrestige. Live scoring is also available at golfstat.com.

Team Scores

1. Oklahoma State — 278
2. LSU — 279
3. UCLA — 286
4. Pepperdine — 289
5. Oregon — 290

Individual Scores

1. Brandon Wu, Stanford — 65

T2. Viktor Hovland, OSU — 68

T2. Austin Eckroat, OSU — 68

T6. Matthew Wolff, OSU — 69

T11. Aman Gupta, OSU* — 70

T24. Zach Bauchou, OSU — 73

T56. Hayden Wood, OSU — 77