Zags in 10th after Day One of Husky Invite
9/23/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
BREMERTON, Wash.—Playing its first competitive rounds of the 2013-14 season, the Gonzaga University men's golf squad saw tremendous improvement throughout day one of the Husky Invitational Monday, cutting 10 strokes between the tournament's first and second rounds on the Olympic Course at Gold Mountain Golf Club.
"I was proud of the way everyone carried themselves throughout the entire day," said Robert Gray, head coach of the Zags. "The course was playing tough in the morning with a colder temperature, swirling winds and difficult pins. We didn't post a great round in the morning but scores were high across the board. We played much better during the second round and were able to move up the board a bit. More importantly we've put ourselves in position to have a good finish this week with a good round tomorrow."
Freshman Will Brueckner leads the Zags two-thirds of the way through his first college tournament after posting a score of 146 (+2) during Monday's two rounds. He shot 2-over-par 74 in the morning round but broke even in the second. He's currently tied for 19th in the tournament.
"Will did a great job in his first collegiate event," said Gray of the freshman. "He handled the new atmosphere well and posted our low 36-hole score for the day, despite being off with his iron play."
Senior James Fahy lays one shot behind Brueckner at 147 (+3) and tied for 26th. Fahy also carded an even-par 72 during the second round to climb up the leaderboard.
"James did a great job of getting the most out of his game today. He didn't strike the ball as well as he usually does but hung in there and posted two good scores."
A pair of Bulldogs are among those tied for 44th at 152 (+8). Sean Walsh rebounded from a rough morning loop to fire 73 (+1) in the afternoon, moving into the top 50. He's even with senior Sean Carlino, who shot rounds of 77 (+5) and 75 (+3) during the first day.
Rounding out the Zags' scoring squad, Brendan Connolly is tied for 65th with 156 strokes, 12 shots above par. Connolly's best round of the day came in the morning when he shot 4-over-par 76.
"Sean Walsh played uncharacteristically the first round but got back to his typical form in round two," said Gray. "Sean Carlino and Brendan also posted at least one counting round, which resulted in every person contributing to our team score today. Having everyone contribute with positive scores is very important and a great start to the season. Also, Carlino's finish of 2 under on his final 3 holes in the second round was huge for the team score."
Collectively, Gonzaga is 10th with 594 strokes (+18) in the tournament, ahead of West Coast Conference foes Saint Mary's and Pepperdine and just two shots behind BYU for a share of eighth place. The Zags counted 292 strokes (+4) during the second round, 10 less than they tallied Monday morning. Oregon leads the way at 574 (-2), and UCLA's Jake Knapp tops the individual standings at 138 (-6).
Competing as an individual in a separate competition on Gold Mountain's Cascade course, David Ganz is tied for 11th with 146 strokes (+4) after Monday's first two rounds. The freshman shot consecutive rounds of 73 (+2) on his first day of collegiate golf.
"David played well in the Individual event on the sister course, Cascade, posting two rounds of 73," said Gray of his other freshman competing this weekend. "He's currently T11 and in position for a top 5 finish against a good field of collegiate players. This is a great opportunity for him to get some valuable experience playing collegiate golf."
The third and final round of the Husky Invitational begins at 7:30 a.m. on Tues., September 23, again at Gold Mountain Golf Club.
