Bremerton, Wash. – Junior Scott Lowe shot a 2-under-par 70 Monday to grab a share of the first round lead at the West Coast Conference Championship at the Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Wash. Lowe is tied with Ben Geyer of Saint Mary's and BYU's Joe Parkinson after the first 18 holes of play.
Lowe birdied three straight holes and had a stretch of 11 holes in the middle of his round where he was 5-under. "I got off to a slow start but started feeling good midway through with some birdies," Lowe said. "It's nice to be playing better."
Lowe's sixth sub-par round of the year helped the Broncos to a team round of 299, tied with San Diego for fifth-place. It was the second consecutive round under 300 for the Broncos who shot a 297 in the final round of the Cowboy Classic on April 9. Saint Mary's, ranked No. 23 by Golfstat.com this week, is the first round leader with an even-par 288, three shots better than BYU.
"We have a little bit of room to make up, but there is still two rounds to go," said Miller.
Freshman Gio Gandionco continued his stellar play ending the day tied for 9th place after firing a 1-over 73. "Scott and Gio played really well today," Miller noted. "It's nice to see Gio be competitive."
Junior Bobby Monaco started the day with birdies on the first two holes and ended the round with a 4-over 76, tied for 21st place with five other players, and Carlos Briones finished the round with an 8-over 80.
One bad hole cost Drew Miller a significantly better score than his 9-over 81. Playing in his first event in two months, Miller took a 10 on the par-4 15th. "Drew played a good round," Coach Miller stated. "He just had one bad hole and it got out of hand a bit." After that hole, Drew Miller played the final 12 at 3-over. "He recovered nicely," Coach Miller said.
Coach Miller is looking for more consistency from his team heading into the middle round of the Championship event. "We need a better fifth [player] score," he said. "Rounds in the 80's won't get it done for us. It's nice having five players though, for a change."
Round two of the tournament gets underway at 8:00 a.m. (PDT) Tuesday. Live stats are available here.
WCC Championship Rd 1 Team Standings
1. Saint Mary's 288 (E)
2. Brigham Young 291 (+3)
T3. Pepperdine 297 (+9)
T3. San Francisco 297 (+9)
T5. San Diego 299 (+11)
T5. Santa Clara 299 (+11)
7. Gonzaga 303 (+15)
8. Loyola Marymount 305 (+17)
Santa Clara Rd 1 Individual Results
T1. Scott Lowe 70 (-2)
T9. Gio Gandionco 73 (+1)
T21. Bobby Monaco 76 (+4)
T36. Carlos Briones 80 (+8)
40. Drew Miller 81 (+9)
WCC Championship Tournament Information
Dates: Monday thru Wednesday, April 15-17, 2013
Site: Bremerton, Wash.
Host: West Coast Conference
Details: Golfers will play 18 holes a day over three days for a total of 54 holes played
WCC Member Field (Golfstat ranking): Saint Mary's (23), Brigham Young (37), San Francisco (56), San Diego (72), Pepperdine (109), Loyola Marymount (134), Santa Clara (138), Gonzaga (141).
Course: Gold Mountain Golf Club-Olympic Course
Yardage/Par: 7,007/Par 72
Website: www.goldmountaingolf.com
Phone: (360) 415-5432