Johnsen Sizzles With Opening Round 68 At Brickyard Championship
10/7/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
MACON, Ga. - Gonzaga University's Travis Johnsen shot an opening-round 68 Friday and the Bulldogs are tied for 11th at the Brickyard Collegiate Championship at the Brickyard at Riverside.
The Bulldogs shot 300 and are tied with Colorado State University heading into Saturday's second round over the 7,175-yard, par 72 course.
Johnsen, tied for fourth with Joe David of the University of Mississippi, had an eagle on the 556-yard, par 5 sixth hole to go with five birdies and three bogeys. Seth Reeves of team-leading Georgia Tech is the individual leader at 65. Georgia Tech is at 280 for a 2-shot lead over Florida State University.
Peter Gullickson shot a 75 for the Bulldogs in a round that included three birdies but two double-bogeys. Brendan Connolly was at 78 and James Fahy had a 79 to account for Gonzaga's scorers.
"The wind picked up as we were teeing off," Gonzaga head coach Robert Gray said. "The course is tree lined with tall pines and the course played tough with the wind swirling around beneath the tree line. With the exception of a couple teams, the course won today. I was really happy for Travis. He played well here last year and is off to another great start."
Gullickson got off to a rough start, going 3-over after four holes but played even par over the last 14 holes. He had double bogeys on No. 10 and No. 13, the Bulldogs teeing off on the back nine.
"I was real happy with the way Peter handled himself after that start. He's come a long way in handling those situations since this time last year," Gray said of the maturity the sophomore has gained.
Connolly "hit the ball a lot better than his score showed, but a couple of errant drives and missed putts were the difference for him," Gray said of the freshman.
Gray was perhaps as impressed with Fahy's 79 as he was Johnsen's 68, considering the route Fahy took to get to his score.
"James hit the ball as bad as I've ever seen, but he kept himself in the game up until the final hole where he finished with a triple. It was a real disappointment for him because he worked so hard to get the most out of his round and a final hole score like that is tough to swallow. Even though his didn't finish the way he wanted, he showed he can 'score ugly.' Anyone can shoot good scores when they're hitting the ball well. Being able to score well when you're not, that's big," Gray said.
Overall, Gray didn't think his team played very well, with the exception of Johnsen.
"Travis' score has kept us within range of a strong finish this week, being just eight shots out of fourth. We got off to a poor start, where we were +7 after the first four holes, but they fought hard the rest of the way to finish at +5 for the last 14 holes. Big numbers continue to hurt us, taking three double bogeys and one triple bogey in the four counting scores. We cut just one stroke off each of those and we're just four shots out of fourth. We'll need to eliminate those and score much better the next two rounds to keep up with some very good teams," Gray noted.
The tourney continues with single rounds Saturday and Sunday with teams teeing off at 5:30 a.m. Pacific Time both days.
