Moore, Rawitzer Each Shoot 68 To Pace Beavers In First Round

Oct. 31, 2011

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Senior Alex Moore and junior Matt Rawitzer both shot a 3-under 68 at the Pacific Invitational in Stockton, Calif., on Monday to lead the Oregon State men's golf team to third place, and just one stroke off the lead, after the opening round of the three-day, 54-hole event.

The Beavers finished with a 5-under 279 at the par-71, 6,757-yard Brookside Country Club and trail only Nevada and Denver, which both finished with a 6-under 278 to lead the 12-team field.

"In all honesty, I feel like we kind of got away with one today to only be one stroke back," Oregon State head coach Jon Reehoorn said. "We did some things well, but we didn't play the par-5's well at all. We also gave some strokes back with three-putts and we didn't birdie the 10th hole and that's a hole we need to birdie. We need to take advantage of the par-5's the next two days."

Moore eagled the par-4, 418-yard second hole when he made his approach shot from 100 yards out and added birdies on the par-4 fifth, par-4 11th and par-4 15th holes to post his third consecutive round in the 60's going back to the Alister MacKenzie Invitational in mid-October. Rawitzer had a bogey-free round with birdies on the par-3 third, par-4 sixth and par-3 12th holes in his first career start for Oregon State after transferring last spring from the University of Idaho. Both players are tied for fourth place heading into Tuesday's second round.

"Golf is a funny game and can change quickly, but Alex is playing the way he should be playing right now," Reehoorn said. "I'm very happy with Matt. To have three birdies and no bogeys in his first tournament is huge and to post a round like he did was great for us. We needed it."

Freshman Scott Kim shot an even-par 71 with five birdies and five bogeys, while sophomore David Fink and junior Nick Sherwood, who entered the tournament as the team's leaders in scoring average, shot a 1-over 72 and 2-over 73, respectively.

"Scott Kim is a fighter," Reehoorn said. "He got a couple of birdies and then some bogeys but fought back for an even-par round. We really needed those two birdies he got at the end. To have David and Nick shoot over-par rounds and only be one back is good. We'll need those to play well the next two days and I think they will."

The second round begins with tee times at 8 a.m. on Tuesday from the 1st and 10th holes and live scoring is available at golfstat.com.

Team Scores: t1. Nevada 278 (-6); t1. Denver 278 (-6); 3. Oregon State 279 (-5); 4. Colorado State 280 (-4); 5. Pacific 281 (-3); 6. Charlotte 282 (-2); 7. BYU 284 (E); 8. Fresno State 286 (+2); 9. Kansas State 287 (+3); t10. UC Davis 289 (+5); t10. Cal Poly 289 (+5); 12. Marquette 296 (+12).

Top Individual Scores: 1. Olafur Loftsson, Charlotte 65 (-6); 2. Kevin Lucas, Nevada 66 (-5); 3. Alex Edfort, Pacific 67 (-4); t4. Alex Moore, Oregon State 68 (-3); t4. Matt Rawitzer 68 (-3); t4. Zachary Blair, BYU 68 (-3); t4. Justin Haley, Cal Poly 68 (-3); t4. Nate Jessup, Fresno State 68 (-3).

Oregon State Scores: t4. Alex Moore 68 (-3); t4. Matt Rawitzer 68 (-3); t20. Scott Kim 71 (E); t31. David Fink 72 (+1); t38. Nick Sherwood 73 (+2).

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