Southeastern Oklahoma leads Central/Midwest Super Regional
LEMONT, Ill. – Southeastern turned in one of its best rounds of the season, led by Zach James, to card a first round team total of 288 and take a three-stroke lead at the Central/Midwest Super-Regional on Monday at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club in Lemont, Ill.
The Savage Storm were the only team to shoot par as a team on the day on the par-72, 6,932 yard Dub’s Dread Course. Round two will begin at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, with SE’s tee times set to begin at 8:20 a.m. on the No. 10 tee.
A big part of that low mark came thanks to James who turned in a four-under-par 68 in the first round and is currently tied for third, just one stroke behind the leaders.
On the day he carded seven birdies and eight pars to go under par on both the front and back nine’s.
He got from help from Marcos Sevilla Suarez who knows how to turn in big rounds in regional play, firing a one-under-par 71 to put himself into a tie for ninth place just four strokes behind the leaders.
Where James dominated on the front nine, Sevilla made his moves on the back nine where he had four of his five birdies and went two under to offset a 1-over front nine.
Sebastian Otoya got off to a good start, making the turn at 1-under before three bogeys on the back nine moved him back to finish with a 2-over par 74 in a tie for 32nd.
Mason Horner had much the same story with a 1-under par front-nine before a plus-four trip back moved him back to a first-round 3-over 75 which is tied for 41st.
Trevor Proctor rounded out the SE lineup with a first-round 80 and is currently tied for 88th.
SE has a three-stroke lead over fellow Central region school Central Missouri, and a four-stroke edge on fellow Great American Conference rival Southwestern Oklahoma State which carded rounds of 291 and 292, respectively.
SWOSU is tied with Indianapolis in third, while Missouri-St. Louis is in fifth with a 295 and Central Oklahoma sixth at 296. The top five teams at the conclusion of the Super-Regional will advance to the NCAA National Finals slated for May 18-22 at Rock Barn Golf and Spa in Conover, N.C.
Eric Kline fired a 1-under-par 71 to lead Central Oklahoma Kline’s under-par effort paced UCO and has him tied for ninth in the individual race, while Logan Gray shot 73, Russ Purser 75, Eli Armstrong 77 and Wesley Jackson 78.
First-round play started on the back nine and Kline opened with a birdie in getting off to a quick start. He made the turn at one-under 35 and had an up-and-down back nine with three birdies, three pars and three bogeys in coming back with an even-par 36.
Gray had seven pars, one birdie and one bogey in a front-nine 36 before coming back with a 37.