Sept. 14, 2015 Day 1 Results (PDF) 
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Sean Walsh led Gonzaga men's golf in the opening round of the 2015-16 season. The senior is tied for 19th after the first day of the Saint Mary's Invitational.
Walsh carded a 73 (+2) in Round 1 at the Poppy Hills Golf Club. He was one-over par on the front-nine and one-over on the back. After finishing the front-nine with a birdie on the ninth hole, the Keller, Texas native made par on eight of the final nine holes. His 14 pars are the fourth-most in the 84-golfer field.
"It was a rough go today," Walsh said. "We caught the tougher draw starting later, but that's just the nature of the game. Dealing with the wind made it tough coming in, but we didn't shoot ourselves out of a good finish. Granted we made it tougher on ourselves, but we can jump some teams with a good solid round tomorrow."
As a team, the Zags are in 14th place after the first round. GU is 18-over (302) and seven strokes out of the top 10.
"The renovated Poppy Hills GC played tough today, especially when the wind kicked up and swirled among the pine trees, making it difficult to judge," Gonzaga Head Coach Robert Gray said. "The difficulty is reflected in the scores, with just one team under par in a good field.
"This course will test you mentally with its difficult greens, requiring precise approach shots and an excellent touch needed with the putter. Our youth and nerves definitely showed up in today's opening round. We made some poor club choices that resulted in bogies, while also playing the par 3's and 5's in eight-over par."
Will Brueckner is in 30th place. He opened his sophomore season with a 74 (+3). He was four-over through the first six holes, but finished three-under on the last 12 holes. He had nine pars and two birdies in the final 12 holes.
Ryan Gaske and Angus Montgomery were separated by a stroke. Gaske began his GU career with a six-over (77) round, while Montgomery opened his season with a 78 (+7). The juniors are in 63rd and 67th place.
David Ganz carded an 85 (+14) and is an 83rd place. Tyler Munetake started his collegiate career with a 79 (+8). The freshman is playing the tournament as an individual.
"Sean and Will put together solid rounds, while Gus, Ryan and Tyler were just a bit off," Gray said. "They hit some good shots that missed their targets slightly and ended up in tough spots to make par. When we hit greens, we just didn't make enough birdie putts, carding just seven birdies out of all six players today."
The hosts, Saint Mary's College, lead the team leaderboard after Day 1. The Gaels are the lone team under-par at five-under (279). San Diego State is eight strokes back. Alex Chiarella of San Diego is four-under (67) and tops the individual leaderboard. Washington State's Derek Bayley is a stroke behind at three-under (68).
Munetake opens the second round for the Zags at 7:40 a.m. Ganz starts the team's round at 9 a.m. Live scoring is available on GoZags.com.
"We're definitely a much better team than what we showed today," Gray said. "With two more rounds to go, we can make a big jump up the leaderboard with two solid rounds, which we're more than capable of doing. We need to improve on the par 3's and par 5's, along with making better decisions on club selection to avoid making the course play more difficult."
