Cowboys grab early lead in hunt for sixth consecutive victory

PALM CITY, Fla. – Oklahoma State’s men’s golf team opened play on Sunday at the Valspar Collegiate Invitational with a 277 tally to grab the lead at Floridian National Golf Club.

Riding a five-tournament winning streak into this week’s event, the top-ranked Cowboys used their 7-under opening score to lead by four at the par-71, 7,144-yard layout. Texas A&M finished the day in second place at 281, while Wake Forest was third at 283.

Wake Forest’s Parker Gillam set the pace in the individual race, carding a 5-under 66 to lead a trio of players, including OSU’s Viktor Hovland.

The Cowboy sophomore posted a 4-under 67 to share second place with Texas A&M’s Dan Erickson and Matthew Perrine of Baylor. Hovland carded his lone bogey of the day at the fourth and moved back to level par with a birdie at the ninth. He carded birdies at the 10th and 11th to make it three in a row before adding birdies at Nos. 13 and 17 to come in with a 4-under 32 back nine.

Junior Zach Bauchou and freshman Matthew Wolff joined Hovland in the top 10, tying for sixth place with a 69 and tying for 10th place with a 70, respectively.

Senior Kristoffer Ventura posted an even-par 71 to finish the day tied for 15th place.

Freshman Austin Eckroat signed for a 77 to stand in a tie for 68th place.

Two Cowboys are competing in the event individually. Junior Hayden Wood posted a 75 to come in tied for 57th, while classmate Nick Heinen posted a 78 and finished tied for 78th place.

OSU will begin its second round tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. (EST) and will be grouped with Texas A&M and Wake Forest.

Live scoring for the event will be available at golfstat.com.

Team Scores

1. Oklahoma State—277

2. Texas A&M—281

3. Wake Forest—283

4. Baylor—284

T5. Duke—286

T5. Florida State—286

Player Scores

1. Parker Gillam, Texas A&M—66

T2. Viktor Hovland, OSU—67

T6. Zach Bauchou, OSU—69

T10. Matthew Wolff, OSU—70

T15. Kristoffer Ventura, OSU—71

T57. Hayden Wood, OSU*—75

T68. Austin Eckroat, OSU—77

T78. Nick Heinen, OSU*—78