Walsh Opens with Even Par Round

May 16, 2016

MARANA, Ariz. -- Sean Walsh carded a 72 (E) in the opening round of the NCAA Championships Tucson Regional on the Gallery Golf Club's North Course Monday.

Walsh fought through a tough front-nine to shoot well on the back-nine. He started the day with two bogeys in the first three holes, before back-to-back birdies on five and six. The senior would bogey holes seven and eight, before making par on No. 9.

After going two-over on the front-nine, Walsh opened the back-nine with birdies on holes 10 and 11. He bogeyed the par-four 12th hole, but closed the round with pars on five of the final six holes. The Keller, Texas native was two-under on the back-nine, including a birdie on the 550-yard par-five 16th hole.

Walsh birdied all three par-five holes and his three-under, 4.25 average on those holes ranked second in the 75-golfer field. His five birdies ranked seventh in the field.

"Sean showed a lot of grit today," Gonzaga Head Coach Robert Gray said. "He had a round that tested his mental toughness more than any other round I've seen him play. He hit the ball really well and just missed his target by a few feet on a couple really tough pins, which resulted in bogeys. I was really impressed with how well he stayed in the present.

"If anything stood out, it was his lag putting, resulting in four three putts. However, we worked on that after the round and made a few adjustments, should he need it tomorrow. Despite the adversity, he hung in there and kept himself in contention with two rounds to go, which is the important thing considering the way the day unfolded."

Matt Lutz of UC Riverside sits atop the leaderboard at six-under (66). He has a one-stroke lead over Wake Forest's Paul McBride and Franklin Huang of Stanford. The top-ranked Cardinal has four golfers in the top-10 and leads the team leaderboard at 14-under (274). UAB is nine strokes behind in second.

West Coast Conference team champion, Saint Mary's is in seventh place at three-over (291). The Gaels are four strokes behind fifth-place California.

The low five teams and the low individual not on those teams from each regional will advance to the finals in Eugene, Ore., May 27-June 1.

Tucson's second round tees off at 7 a.m. Tuesday. Walsh begins his round on the 10th hole at 9:12 a.m. Live scoring will be available on GoZags.com.

Players Mentioned

Sean Walsh

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