Sooners open third in Las Vegas as Cummins, Reband shoot 71

The No. 6 Oklahoma men’s golf team holds third place at the end of the first round of the Southern Highlands Collegiate. The three-day, 54-hole event is taking place at the par-72, 7,374-yard Southern Highlands Golf Club in Las Vegas.

OU shot 287 (-1) on Sunday against an elite 15-team field that features eight teams in the top 25 of the latest Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, including five in the top 10.

No. 4 Georgia Tech sits atop the team leaderboard at 283 (-5), followed by Stanford one stroke back in second place at 284 (-4). No. 9 California, No. 22 Texas Tech and host UNLV all share fourth place at even-par 288, one stroke behind the Sooners.

Juniors Quade Cummins and Garett Reband paced the Sooners and are tied for eighth place individually after 18 holes at 71 (-1). Cummins recorded a pair of birdies on Sunday. Reband opened the round with three birdies on the front nine.

Freshman Patrick Welch totaled an even-par 72 during the first round. Welch is tied for 19th place and carded four birdies during his round.

Redshirt junior Thomas Johnson carded a 73 (+1) and holds a share of 24th place after the opening round. Thomas picked up a pair of birdies during his first round of the season competing in OU’s lineup.

Junior Riley Casey recorded a 78 (+6) and is tied for 69th place through 18 holes.

The second round of the Southern Highlands Collegiate is scheduled for Monday. The Sooners will tee off from hole No. 1 at 12:40 p.m. CT. OU will be paired with Georgia Tech and Stanford during Monday’s round.

Live scoring will be available at Golfstat.com<http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=16349>.