by Gavin Hall, Santa Clara Athletics Media Relations Student Assistant
MARICOPA, Ariz. - It was the upperclassmen who shined today as both Viraj Garewal and Alex Conley had rounds under par on the first day of the National Golf Invitational.
Coming off earning medalist honors at a US Open Local Qualifying event just three days prior, Garewal kept the fire lit as he began his day with three straight birdies. The graduate student continued to stay steady for the rest of the round, only recording one bogey during the round to shoot a 4-under 68 and go into a tie for 3rd. Senior Conley had a back-and-forth round as he traded bogeys and birdies throughout, ending up with a stellar Round 1 of 2-under 70 to be tied for 12th. He also birdied No. 18, the hardest hole of the day, and was 3-under on the par-5s.
Nolan Forsman avoided a double bogey today, recording just three bogeys and one bogey to shoot a 3-over 75, putting him into a tie for 49th. Calder Overfelt started his day off with eight straight pars and was 1-over through 16 holes before going over par through his final two holes to shoot a 4-over 76 and to be in T53rd place. Also shooting a 4-over 76 today was fellow freshman Eugenio Bernardi who went 1-over through the front nine then went 3-over on the back, recording three birdies over the 18 holes.
Santa Clara cumulatively was one stroke over par today, only enough for a solo 10th place standing at the moment out of the 13 teams competing. Wyoming leads the field at 8-under overall with the Cowboy Tyler Severin shooting the low round of the day at 6-under 66. The Broncos will look to climb the leaderboard tomorrow when they begin teeing off in twosomes alongside Stetson at 8:13 AM PT.
NEXT UP
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National Golf Invitational Second Round
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Saturday, May. 20
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Ak-Chin Southern Dunes GC (Maricopa, Ariz.)
