University of Houston Athletics
University of Houston
NCAA Lubbock Regional
Men's Golf in Second after NCAA Regional First Round
5/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
| Championship Central | Live Scoring | First-Round Results Photos  | Round 2 Pairings |
|---|
| Team | Rounds | Score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | F | |||
| 1. | #2 Texas | 273 | 273 | -11 | ||
| 2. | #35 Houston | 274 | 274 | -10 | ||
| 3. | #48 Duke | 276 | 276 | -8 | ||
| 4. | #9 Texas Tech | 278 | 278 | -6 | ||
| T5. | Purdue | 279 | 279 | -5 | ||
| T5. | #26 California | 279 | 279 | -5 | ||
| 7. | #13 Auburn | 280 | 280 | -4 | ||
| 8. | #38 Louisville | 283 | 283 | -1 | ||
| 9. | Southeastern Louisiana | 285 | 285 | +1 | ||
| 10. | Charleston Southern | 285 | 285 | +1 | ||
| T11. | UC Irvine | 287 | 287 | +3 | ||
| T11. | Georgia State | 287 | 287 | +3 | ||
| 13. | #23 North Florida | 291 | 291 | +7 | ||
| HOUSTON LEADERS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | F | |||
| 2 | Kyle Pilgrim | 66 | 66 | -5 | ||
| T11. | Blair Hamilton | 68 | 68 | -3 | ||
| T21. | Roman Robledo | 70 | 70 | -1 | ||
| T21. | Vincent Martino | 70 | 70 | -1 | ||
| T64. | Alan De Bondt | 75 | 75 | +4 | ||
| OVERALL LEADERS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | F | |||
| 1. | Austin Eoff Purdue | 65 | 76 | -6 | ||
| T2. | Kyle Pilgrim Houston | 66 | 66 | -5 | ||
| T2. | #11 Beau Hossler Texas | 66 | 66 | -5 | ||
| T2. | #84 K.K. Limbhasut California | 66 | 66 | -5 | ||
| T2. | Nicolas Platret Texas-Pan American | 66 | 66 | -5 | ||
| T2. | #100 David Snyder Kentucky | 66 | 66 | -5 | ||
HOUSTON - University of Houston senior Kyle Pilgrim led four Cougars with sub-par rounds to guide the team to a second-place showing after the NCAA Lubbock Regional First Round on The Rawls Course at Texas Tech on Thursday afternoon.
Pilgrim tied a Houston record in NCAA Regional play with a sparkling 66 to tie with four others for second after the first day on the 7,349-yard, par-71 course. Junior Blair Hamilton enjoyed a 68 in the first NCAA Regional round of his career with senior Roman Robledo and junior Vincent Martino each firing 70s.
It marked only the second time in NCAA Regional play in school history that the Cougars saw four players post sub-par scores in the same round. Jeff Burns (70), Victor Schwamkrug (70), Mike Brennan (70) and Chris Morris (71) first accomplished the feat in the Second Round of the 1997 NCAA Central Regional at the University of Oklahoma Golf Course in Norman, Okla., on May 16, 1997.
With their impressive play, the Cougars stood in second place with a score of 274 to finish the First Round just one stroke back of second-ranked Texas. No. 48 Duke (276), No. 9 Texas Tech (278), Purdue (279), No. 26 California (279), No. 13 Auburn (280), No. 38 Louisville (283), Southeastern Louisiana (285) and Charleston Southern (286) rounded out the top 11 leaders.
The low five teams and low individual not on those teams will advance to the NCAA Championships, slated for May 29-June 3 at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla.
"We got off to a really good start, which always helps. We knew the scoring would be low today. I am very pleased with the score that we put on the board," said Director of Golf Jonathan Dismuke, who is in his sixth year at Houston.
The Cougars' team total was the program's lowest round of the 2014-15 season and set a school record in NCAA Regional play, topping the 281s posted by the 1998 (2nd and 3rd rounds, NCAA Central Regional, May 16, 1997, Oak Hills Country Club, San Antonio, Texas) and 1997 (2nd round, NCAA Central Regional, May 15-16, 1997, OU Golf Course, Norman, Okla.) teams.
Pilgrim played a near flawless round to lead the Cougars on Thursday. The Colleyville, Texas, native tied for the team lead with six birdies and endured only one bogey late in his round.
Pilgrim, who has finished among the top-13 leaders in each of his last three tournaments entering the NCAA Lubbock Regional, drained birdies on two of his first four holes to start the day and added another birdie on No. 17 to cap his front nine.
"Kyle played solid all day long. He drove the ball beautifully, hit a tremendous amount of quality iron shots and was fortunate to make a few putts. It was a really clean round," Dismuke said.
After draining another birdie on the par-4 second hole, Pilgrim sank four straight pars and closed out the round with birdies on two of his final three holes with his lone bogey at No. 8 sandwiched between. He was tied for second with Texas' Beau Hossler, California's K.J. Limbhasut, Texas-Pan American's Nicolas Platret and Kentucky's David Snyder, one stroke behind Purdue's Austin Eoff, who fired a First-Round 65.
Pilgrim certainly wasn't the only Cougar going low in Thursday's First Round. Playing the first postseason round of his career (conference or NCAA), Hamilton started his day with a birdie on No. 10 and added two more on the final four holes of his front nine.
The Burlington, Ontario, Canada, native started his back nine with his fourth birdie of the day and added two more birdies on No. 4 and No. 7 for his sixth round in the 60s during the 2014-15 season. He was tied for 11th with California's Alexander Wilson.
Martino opened his Regional with nine straight pars before sinking a birdie on the 368-yard, par-4 first hole and added another on the third hole. Despite a bogey on No. 4, the Southlake, Texas, native rallied with a birdie on No. 6 to finish with a 70 and tie for 21st.
Senior All-American Roman Robledo joined Martino in a tie for 21st with a 70 of his own for his second sub-par round in NCAA Regional play during his career. The Harlingen, Texas, native sank an eagle on the par-4 11th hole and added a birdie on No. 17 near the end of his front nine.
Robledo then battled through back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 3-4 before adding his final birdie of the day at No. 7.
Making his NCAA Regional debut, freshman Alan De Bondt tied for 64th at 75.
SECOND ROUND on FRIDAY
Teeing off No. 1, the Cougars will compete in threesomes with student-athletes from No. 2 Texas and No. 48 Duke during Friday's Second First Round.
De Bondt will start the day for the Cougars at 9:15 a.m., with Martino (9:26 a.m.), Robledo (9:37 a.m.), Hamilton (9:48 a.m.) and Pilgrim (9:59 a.m.) following.
"In any tournament like this, you have to keep your foot on the gas. This course is scorable and there is going to be more wind in the next couple of days," Dismuke said. "We need to go out, maintain our aggressiveness and not try to be too careful."
Fans can follow live scoring at the NCAA Lubbock Regional by visiting Golfstat.com and following the appropriate links or by clicking here. For more information about the NCAA Lubbock Regional, fans can visit Championship Central by clicking here.
NCAA REGIONAL HISTORY
This marks the fourth straight season that the Cougars have competed in an NCAA Regional. It is the first time since 1999-02 that the Cougars accomplished that feat.
Entering this week, the Cougars' lineup has a combined six individual appearances in NCAA Regional play. Robledo leads the way with three NCAA Regional berths with Pilgrim (2) and Martino (1). This is the first time that De Bondt and Hamilton have competed in an NCAA Regional.
Robledo became only the fifth player in program history to compete in four NCAA Regionals during his career, joining Anders Hansen, B.J. Staten, Andy Sanders and Dean Larsson. Pilgrim became only the 14th player with at least three NCAA Regional berths on his resume.
This also will be the 18th NCAA Regional team appearance in the rich history of the Houston Men's Golf program. The Cougars can boast of one team championship (1998), two individual crowns (Brett Callas, 2003; Larsson, 1994) and seven top-5 team finishes.
A year ago, Houston competed as the No. 2 seed at the NCAA Eugene Regional and finished fourth at that event to earn the program's first berth to the NCAA Championships since 2001. At the NCAA Eugene Regional, Robledo and Curtis Reed tied for eighth at the Eugene Country Club with scores of 215.
STAY CONNECTED
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Players Mentioned
