No. 2 Men's Golf holds first-round lead at Bayou City Collegiate Championship
Feb. 22, 2013 HUMBLE, Texas -- Senior Julio Vegas fired an opening-round 69 in the Bayou City Collegiate Championship at Redstone Golf Club to lead the No. 2 Texas Men’s Golf team atop Friday’s leaderboard at 3-under 285, but junior walk-on Brax McCarthy commanded a one-stroke lead over the field after firing a 5-under 67 while competing as an individual for the Longhorns. After a pair of pars to begin his day on Nos. 10 and 11, McCarthy made one eagle and three birdies over the next five holes and was 5-under through seven. He holed out his second shot on the par-4, 300-yard 12th hole for eagle, and found birdies on Nos. 13, 15 and 16. He sustained his five-shot lead through the turn, but bogeys on Nos. 1 and 5 briefly dropped McCarthy to -3. He found his fourth and fifth birdies of the day on the seventh and eighth holes – his 16th and 17th – to enter the clubhouse as Friday’s individual leader. Playing in the No. 4 position of the Texas lineup and in the second group overall, Vegas set the tone early with a birdie on his first hole. He sank two more birdie putts on the sixth and eighth holes to make the turn at 3-under. Back-to-back birdies came at Nos. 12 and 13 and Vegas dipped to -5. His only blemish came on the par-5, 572-yard 15th hole when he succumbed to a double bogey and lost two strokes. He finished with three straight pars and Vegas signed for a 3-under 69 to tie for third place. Freshman Brandon Stone, junior Toni Hakula and sophomore Kramer Hickok each finished the day at even-par 72 and are tied for 16th place. Senior Cody Gribble rounded out the burnt orange contingent tied for 27th with a 73.
As a team, the four low scorers in Texas’ lineup combined for 4-under on the front nine and 1-over on Redstone’s back half. Big 12 Conference partner Baylor (286) trails Texas by one stroke and is in second place on the 15-team leaderbarod, while Charlotte (289) is two strokes behind the Bears in third. Chattanooga, UT Arlington and East Carolina are in a three-way tie for fourth place at 2-over 290. Saturday’s second-round tee times will be available later this evening on Golfstat.com. Bayou City Collegiate Championship First-round player leaderboard * - denotes competing as an individual Texas Players |
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