One stroke separates the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and Yale through one round of the Baton Rouge Regional.
The UAPB golf team finished the first of three days at the University Club in Baton Rouge 33 over par, one stroke behind Yale at the bottom of the team standings.
SWAC Freshman of the Year Jose Berenguel led UAPB, finishing Monday tied for 44th individually out of 75 golfers after shooting 4 over par. He had two birdies and 11 pars. Yale’s Ben Carpenter is one of the nine golfers tied with Berenguel for 44th.
Jules De Reu (+8), Angel Perez (+8), Timur Alalin (+13) and Angel Soria (+17) round out the Golden Lions team. A school’s team score is calculated based on its top four individual scores.
Loyola Maryland is 10 strokes ahead of Yale, signaling that the Golden Lions and Bulldogs will likely be battling over the next two rounds to avoid finishing last, a fate UAPB suffered last year in the Norman Regional.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
UAPB shot slightly better than Yale on par 4s and 5s, but the Bulldogs shot +7 on par 3s to UAPB’s +14, giving them the edge.
The Golden Lions are in the NCAA tournament for the second-straight year after winning back-to-back SWAC championships. Berenguel was the low medalist at the SWAC championships last month.
Virginia (-8) leads the field through one round, with national No. 1-seed Auburn (-3) in second. Ohio State and Houston (+1) are tied for third, with Duke (+3) in fifth. The top five teams will qualify for the national championships May 24-29 in Carlsbad, Calif., as well as the top individual not on a qualifying team. Through one round, LSU’s Connor Guant (-4) sits in that position.
Chasing the top five are Texas Tech and Oregon (+4), South Carolina (+5), Lipscomb (+6) and host LSU (+7). Louisville (+13) sits in 11th ahead of Loyola, Yale and UAPB.
The Baton Rouge Regional continues with round two Tuesday and the final round Wednesday. Rounds begin at 8 a.m. each day.