Alex Franklin Opens NCAA Regionals With 71
BREMERTON, Wash. – Alex Franklin carded a 1-under 71 in the opening round of the NCAA Division I Men‘s Golf West Regional Championships on Thursday to put him in a tie for 14th place with 36 holes to play.
Franklin, a senior from San Rafael, Calif., had three birdies and two bogeys at the par-72, 7,115-yard Gold Mountain Golf Club, Olympic Course in a regional that features 14 teams and five individuals.
The low five teams and the low individual not on those teams will advance to the NCAA National Championships, which will be conducted May 29-June 3 at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida.
The second round of the three-day, 54-hole tournament will begin at 8 a.m. on Friday with tee times off the first and 10th holes. Franklin will start at 10:34 a.m. off the 10th hole and be paired with Adam Ball of VCU and Joey Krecic of Cleveland State.
Franklin started on the first hole and promptly birdied the par-4, 460-yard course opener. After a bogey on the fifth hole, he birdied the par-5, 563-yard sixth and reeled off three straight pars for a 1-under 35 going out. Franklin got a bogey on 10, a birdie on the par-5, 549-yard 11th and seven straight pars to finish for an even-par 36 coming in for his 1-under 71.
This is the second straight season Franklin qualified for the NCAA Regionals as an individual. Last year he finished in a tie for 14th place at the NCAA Regional in Eugene, Ore., where he shot a 6-over 70-72-74--216 at the Eugene Country Club.
“Alex did what he has done all year today, just find a way to shoot a score,” Oregon State head coach Jon Reehoorn said. “After the sixth hole he only hit two fairways and still managed to post a score of 71. Whenever he was in trouble, he made good decisions and hit it to good spots.
“I think we found something on the range after the rounds with his setup that allowed him to hit some good drivers and gain confidence. Mentally he is in a really good spot to keep it going the next two days.”
Twenty-one golfers in the 75-player field shot in red figures on the opening day, led by 6-under 66 by Sean Crocker of USC. UAB (8-under 280), TCU and USC (7-under 281), and Iowa State and Washington (1-under 287) hold down the top five team spots with 36 holes to play.
