Michael Johnson, a first-team All-SEC selection, led the No.8 Auburn men's golf team in the opening round of the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional at Ol' Colony Golf Course on Monday. Johnson fired a 3-under 69 to lead the Tigers, currently sitting at sixth, with two shots off the cutline with a 6-over 294.
“Our leader played a great round of golf today,” said Auburn head coach Nick Clinard. “The golf course is hard. It’s difficult, and the wind picked up on the back nine. We didn’t really handle it well for the majority-speaking. We dropped a lot of shots on 16 and 18 and made a couple of bogeys on the par five 14th."
No. 5 Georgia leads at 4-under 284 followed by No. 17 South Carolina (287), Kentucky (288), UNLV (290), Alabama (292), Auburn (294), Colorado (296), College of Charleston (298), Lipscomb (302), Kansas (308), Southern Illinois (314), Charleston Southern (315) and Harvard (323).
“There are two more days," said Clinard. "They aren’t putting five teams through after today. I do know that. We have a lot of work to do, and I’m looking forward to the next two days and seeing what happens.”
After bogeying his opening hole Johnson sank four birdies at the No.3, 6, 10 and 18 to tie his career NCAA Regional low set in last year’s first round in Lubbock, Texas.
“I got off to a shaky start with a bogey,” said Johnson. “I didn’t hit a good shot the entire hole. Besides that, it was pretty easy. I hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens. I didn’t make too many birdie putts, but I made a lot of par putts."
Johnson trails a leading trio of Colorado's Jeremy Paul and Gerogia's Greyson Sigg and Zach Healy by one shot. Fortunately, Johnson noted, "We have two more days and we have plenty of time to even win the golf tournament."
The top five teams and one individual not on those teams qualify for the 120th NCAA Men's Golf Championship in Eugene, Oregon, May 27-June 1. Auburn will tee off the Tuscaloosa Regional second round Tuesday at 8:20 a.m. CST off No.1 UNLV and Alabama.
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