Ball State University Athletics
Colorado Leads, Watts in Mix after Regional Day 1
May 14, 2015 | Men's Golf
LEADERBOARD | REGIONAL CENTRAL
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. -- Colorado posted a score of 11-under par 277 to grab the first-round lead Thursday at the NCAA Men's Golf Noblesville Regional hosted by Ball State.
The ninth-seeded Buffaloes boast four players under par and will take an eight-shot lead over SMU and top-ranked Illinois into Friday's second round. At 3 under, Illinois and SMU are the only other teams in red figures after the opening day at The Sagamore Club.
Colorado teammates David Oraee and Jeremy Paul share the individual lead with SMU's Benjamin Baxter. All three opened with rounds of 4-under par 68.
A total of 13 players are under par. Ball State's Johnny Watts, competing as an individual, is tied for 22nd in the field of 75 golfers after opening with a 74.
The top five teams following this week's 54-hole event will advance to the NCAA Championships, along with the top individual not associated with one of those teams.
UCLA (+5) and UNLV (+7) occupy the fourth and fifth spots after one round. Oregon (+9) is sixth, and two-time defending national champion Alabama (+10) is seventh.
The second round gets underway Friday with tee times starting at 8 a.m. Hole-by-hole live scoring is available all week at golfstat.com.
Three Straight Birdies Boost Watts
Ball State freshman Johnny Watts opened with a 2-over par round of 74 and finds himself in a tie for 22nd place after day one.
The Fishers, Ind., product, playing not far from home, qualified for Regional play after winning the Mid-American Conference Championships.
After playing his opening nine in 2 over, Watts used three straight birdies in the middle of his back nine to get into red figures and move into the top 10. A bogey at the 15th hole and a double bogey at the difficult par-3 17th dropped him back to 2 over for the day.
“I was a little nervous on the first tee ball, and I ended up hitting it in the heather, but after that I got the hang of it,” Watts said.” The first couple holes were a struggle, but I managed to fight through it and put together a pretty solid round.
“I was hitting it pretty close to the hole (on the back nine), and I was obviously making some putts. I just kind of got in a groove, all the nerves went away, and it just felt like another round of golf.”
Watts will go off the 10th tee at 10:01 a.m. Friday in the second round.
