No. 20 Men’s Golf Tied For 9th After First Round Of Saint Mary’s Invitational

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Led by senior Hayden Shieh, who carded a 1-under 70, Santa Clara men's golf scored a 9-over 293 to tie for ninth-place after the first round of the Saint Mary's Invitational.

In a field that boasts seven teams ranked in the top-50 and 12 top-100 squads, according to the recent Golfstat.com poll, the Broncos are in the middle of the pack in the 18-team field, trailing first-round leader San Francisco by 12-shots.

"We're in a spot we haven't been in yet this season," head coach Rob Miller said of his team that won two of its first three events this fall with a runner-up finish. "It's just one round and it was inevitable. But it'll give the guys something to battle back from."

Shieh doubled the par-4 seventh hole but responded with a pair of birdies and nine pars over his final 11 holes to finish in a tie for eighth-place seven other golfers, three shots behind a quartet of players at the top of the leaderboard at 4-under.

Derek Ackerman shot even-par 70 to tie for 16th place. "Derek and Hayden were solid today," Miller added. "But the other three guys struggled."

Jack Avrit and Matt McCarty each shot 5-over 76 to tie for 55th. "Matt was upset with his round," Miller said. "He hit a couple of the worst shots he's hit in ages, but he held it together after that."

Freshman Zack Kaneshiro played through a sore back to score a 6-over 77.

"This is a good field," Miller said. "We need to come out tomorrow, chip away and climb up the leaderboard."

Second round play on the 7,002-yard, par-71 Poppy Hills Golf Course is schedule to get underway Tuesday at 7:30 a.m. PT. The Broncos will be among the first to tee off and will look to take advantage of more favorable playing conditions. Live scoring is available at

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