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Florida Tech In Third Place After Day 1 of NCAA Championships In Men’s Golf

By  //  May 23, 2017

Florida Tech has gotten off to an impressive start at the NCAA Division II Men’s Golf Championships, and sits third overall after the first round at Reunion Resort’s Watson Course. (FIT Image)

KISSIMMEE, FLORIDA – Florida Tech has gotten off to an impressive start at the NCAA Division II Men’s Golf Championships, and sits third overall after the first round at Reunion Resort’s Watson Course.

The 6th-ranked Panthers boast a day one score of 3-under 277 at the par-70, 7,054 yard course. FIT is just one shot back of No. 1 West Florida (-4) and holds a three stroke edge on No. 4 Florida Southern (E), who is fourth in the standings. Sunshine State Conference Champion, No. 3 Barry is the leader after shooting 6-under 274 in round one.

Two freshmen lead the charge for Florida Tech as Max O’Hagan and Han Xue both 3-under 67 and head into the second round tied for third overall in the standings.

O’Hagan paced all players with seven birdies over the first 18 holes, including a streak of five during holes 6-12. His classmate, Xue, ranked second in the field with six birdies in the first round and five on the front nine, alone.

Shanren Brienen sits in a tie for 27th overall after carding a 1-over 71 on Monday. The sophomore knocked in four birdies over his first 18 holes.

Gaelen Trew and Jonas Kugel each shot 2-over 72 in round one and end the day tied for 35th in the standings. The elder statesmen of the Panther contingent, Trew a junior and Kugel a graduate student, are two of just five participants to register eagles in the first round.

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A pair of Panthers set school records in the round. With his seven birdies, O’Hagan now has 100 during the 2016-17 season, giving him the program record for most birdies in a single campaign. Trew’s eagle on hole 8 gave the junior five this season and moves him into a tie atop the program leaderboard, with Ray Badenhorst (2012-13), for most eagles in a single campaign.

Florida Tech led all teams with 18 birdies and two eagles on day one, and is tied atop the field in par-5 scoring at 4.60 (-4).

The NCAA Championship continues Tuesday with the Panthers teeing off the second round on hole 10 at 12 p.m. ET. Fans can access live coverage of the action via FloridaTechSports.com