Palm Desert, Calif. (Feb. 22, 2019) -- Wyoming sophomore
Carl Underwood set the pace for the Wyoming Cowboys on Friday in the opening round of the 2019 Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate. Underwood fired an opening round of one-under par 71 to tie for fifth place. He was one of only six individuals out of the field of 120 to post a sub-par round on Friday. UW senior
John Murdock shot a one-over par 73 to tie for 11th place individually. As a team, Wyoming is tied for eighth place with Denver at 300 (+12).
The Classic Club in Palm Desert, Calif., posed a true championship challenge for the collegiate golfers on Friday, with cool, windy weather. No team was able to shoot an under par round. The Texas Tech Red Raiders and Colorado State Rams are tied for the team lead at 290 (+2), heading into the second of three days of competition on Saturday. Skyler Eubank of Boise State and David Ravetto of TCU share the opening round lead at 68 (-4).
Rounding out the scoring for the Wyoming Cowboys on Friday was a five-over par round of 77 from true freshman
Kirby Coe-Kirkham, tying him for 64th place. Another true freshman,
Tyler Severin, tied for 87th in round one after shooting a 79 (+7). Junior
Dan Starzinski got off to a slow start and could never really recover, posting an 81 (+9). Two other Cowboys are playing as individuals in this year's Desert Intercollegiate. Redshirt freshman
Jared Edeen is tied with teammate Coe-Kirkham at 77 (+5), and true freshman
Jimmy Dales is tied with Severin for 87th place at 79 (+7).
"Day one is in the books, and it ended with a lot of teams grouped closely together," said
Joe Jensen, University of Wyoming Director of Golf and Head Coach. "When the wind came up today, the quality of this championship golf course really showed as there wasn't a single team that posted an under-par round.
"Carl (Underwood) played extremely well for us today, particularly on the par fives. He and John (Murdock) kept us in position in the team competition.
"I have four freshmen playing here this week -- two playing for the team and two as individuals --- and this is a great learning experience for them.
"This is the start of a long spring season, and I want our guys to strive to improve each day. I am looking forward to seeing how Carl plays in the No. 1 spot for us tomorrow, and I would expect Dan to bounce back and play much better.
"Running an event like this is always exciting, but there is a lot of work that goes into it. I'm very appreciative for the great staff at the Classic Club, the officials and all the other people who are helping us put on this tournament. Operationally, I think everything went very well. I got a lot of good comments from people today.
"We're anticipating it being cooler tomorrow morning, so we will be starting a little bit later to make sure the course is ready to go. We're anticipating teeing off at 8 a.m. local time Saturday rather than 7 a.m. as we did today."
The second of three, 18-hole rounds of the 2019 Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate will be played on Saturday. The final round will will tee off on Sunday.
The Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate is being hosted by the University of Wyoming at the Classic Club in Palm Desert, Calif. The Classic Club measures 7,305 yards and plays to a par of 72.
