HEMET, Calif. --- Winds strong enough to create a nearby sandstorm put a serious damper on the first day of competition for the 2016-17 Biola Men's Golf season.
Head Coach
Max Allen's team made the trip to Hemet and Diamond Valley Golf Club for the CA State Intercollegiate hosted by the University of La Verne. The first day of the season featured one round of play, which was largely hampered by 50 mile-per-hour winds.
"The guys played better than the scores would suggest," said Allen. "The course as a whole was not hard, but the winds picked up for nearly two hours and the guys had difficulty executing shots."
The difficulty in execution led to a disappointing placing on the scoreboard at the end of the day. The Eagles sit in 10
th of 10 teams with a 324 (+36). There's definitely hope for upward movement as Biola sits just seven strokes behind Pomona-Pitzer for ninth place.
Kyle McAbee, entering his second collegiate season, seemed to be unfazed by the blowing winds as he put up a round one 72 (+2). He set himself up to compete for a top-10 finish tomorrow as he sits tied for 17
th and just seven strokes behind the individual leader.
Dominic Ariondo was the other Eagle to come into the clubhouse under 80. He finished the day with a 79 (+7). It was great to see him come into that score after a challenging start with an unplayable ball on just the second hole.
Samuel Shih (85),
Ben Crumley (86) and
Austin Bishop (89) were the final three Eagles on the leaderboard after day one.
"Sam and Ben both had good starts to the day," said Allen. "They were both 1-under through the first five holes, but entering the toughest holes is when the wind picked up and caused some crooked numbers."
The surprise of the day was Bishop's 89. The sophomore led the team in 2015-16 with an average round of 76. Coach Allen commented that this round was uncharacteristic for Bishop and that it will definitely be an outlier as the season progresses.
The team is back out on the course on Tuesday for the final round of play. All five of Biola's golfers tee off between 8:00 a.m. and 8:36 a.m.
"Tomorrow the team has the first tee times, which means calm conditions," said Allen. "They are pumped to make ground in the standings, and they have the skill to do it as suggested by their great starts in today's round."
