May 21, 2024
Cobras Shoot 1-under; 6-back of Lead at Nationals
WINTER GARDEN, FL -- Seniors Jonathan Hallinger and Killian Ryan each carded under-par rounds Tuesday in the opening round of the NCAA DII Men's Golf National Championships as Coker posted 1-under.
Playing in the National Championships for the first time in 18 years, the Cobras went out in 4-over on the par-71, 7,419-yard Crooked Cat layout at Orange County National, then made 10 birdies and an eagle to shoot 5-under on the back nine, That helped Coker, ranked 18th nationally, climb the leaderboard to 8th place of 20 teams, just six shots behind co-leaders Oklahoma Christian (ranked No. 6) and Colorado Christian (No. 5).
Hallinger is tied for 7th after rolling in a team-high five birdies to shoot 68. He hit 11 fairways, and 12 greens (10 inside 15 feet) and needed just 27 putts. Ryan shot 70. He made three birdies and eagled No. 14 after stuffing an approach shot to four feet.
The Cobras will tee off at 9:20 in Round Two on Wednesday. Teams will play 18 more on Thursday and the top eight teams after those 54 holes will advance to Medal Match Play on Friday and Saturday.
"I was really proud of how our guys just eased into the round," Coker head coach John Hackney said. "Playing on this stage for the National Championship is a big deal and the starting holes played tough for everyone. We stayed patient and then started making some birdies as we made the turn. Our guys are just real veterans and it showed today."
Hackney said he thought other keys to the round were that his team only carded one double-bogey and had just one 3-putt.
No. 7 West Florida and No. 3 Grand Valley State are tied for third at -5, No. 33 Cal State Monterey Bay is fifth at -4, No. 15 Central Oklahoma is sixth at -3 and No. 1 North Georgia is sixth at -2, just one shot ahead of the Cobras. No. 23 West Texas A&M is 9th at +1 and four other schools are tied for 10th at +4.
The field includes 12 top-25 teams. Tony Tao of CSU Monterey Bay notched five birdies and two eagles and has the overall individual lead after shooting a scintillating 63 (-8). Nineteen of the 108 players broke par in the opening round.
Junior Derek McGlaughlin (72), senior Caleb Tidd (73) and senior Aaron Teece (76) completed the Coker scoring. McGlaughlin had two birdies and played the back nine at even par. Tidd's only two birdies came on 16 and 17 as he rallied late and Teece parred his last four holes.
The Cobras, who are making just their second National Championship appearance in school history, had 14 birdies overall. They played the par 3s at +3, the par 4s at +6 and the par 5s at -5.
"Our plan is to go even lower tomorrow to move up the standings," Hackney said. "In the end, we just want to be in the top 8 to make match play, but it would be nice to earn a high seed. We put together a great second round when we were runner-up at Regionals last week, so we would like to do that again."