Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Golf Snares Lead At NCAA Championship
May 26, 2009 | Cowboy Golf
May 26, 2009
TOLEDO, Ohio -
Results 
Oklahoma State's men's golf team grabbed the top spot on the leaderboard after the first round of play at the NCAA Championship on Tuesday with a 288 total at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.
The top-ranked Cowboys' 4-over score tied them with Georgia for first place. Chattanooga got in with a 292 to stand in third place.
Three players paced a group of just eight among the 156 participants to finish under par for the day. Northwestern's Jonathan Bowers, Illinois' Scott Langley and North Carolina State's Matt Hill all fired 2-under 69s to claim a share of the individual lead.
The Cowboys began their round on the back nine, making the turn as a collective group at 3-under par before finishing on what proved to be the more difficult front nine. Seven of the 10 toughest holes during Round One were featured on the historic layout's outward nine, which OSU's starting five played 10-over par.
Senior Trent Leon's even-par 71 led OSU and tied him for ninth place. The Dallas, Texas native got off to a fast start with birdies on two of his first four holes before tallying five-straight pars to close out his initial nine. Leon found trouble on his 12th and 13th holes, playing them 3-over to move back over par for the day. However, he closed with four pars and a birdie to come back to level par.
Sophomore Rickie Fowler and freshman Morgan Hoffmann each signed for 1-over 72s and are tied for 16th place.
Like Leon, Fowler got off to a good start with birdies on his second and third holes before making the turn at 1-over 37. After a bogey on his 10th hole, the Murrieta, Calif., native strung together six consecutive pars before making a birdie on his 17th hole to move back to 1-over for the day.
Hoffmann's round began with seven consecutive pars before a bogey-birdie finish to his outward nine. The Wyckoff, N.J., native got to 2-under with birdies on his 11th and 12th holes before closing with three bogeys over his final six holes to finish at 1-over.
Freshman Peter Uihlein's first career NCAA Championship round featured four birdies and saw him finish at 2-over 73, tying him for 29th place.
Coming off a victory in his last outing at the NCAA South Central Regional, sophomore Kevin Tway posted a 74 and is tied for 41st place.
The Cowboys will play in the morning wave of tee times during their second round tomorrow at the par-71, 7,255-yard layout. OSU will once again be grouped with Alabama and Florida with the trio set to begin play at 7:00 a.m. (EST).
