Feb. 20, 2011

2011 Puerto Rico Classic Day One Results (PDF Format)

Golfstat Live Scoring

Coach Goss Live Tweeting

RIO MAR, P.R. -- Following the first round of the Puerto Rico Classic Sunday at Rio Mar Country Club, Northwestern is tied for seventh place with a pair of other programs in the 15-team field after firing an opening-round 1-over 289.

Northwestern teed off during the shotgun start on Nos. 1-3, and immediately went a combined 6-over on the 422-yard par-4 second to get off to an inauspicious beginning. Finding themselves on the bottom half of the team standings after the course's treacherous stretch of holes from Nos. 7-10, the Wildcats made a nice charge on a birdie-able back nine to get to 4-under as a team before giving a few strokes back at the end.

No. 32 NU is tied with No. 33 Purdue and No. 13 Georgia in that seventh position at 1-over par, one stroke behind No. 19 N.C. State in sixth and two shots in back of No. 39 Oklahoma in fifth. The seventh-place trio is one shot ahead of 10th-place No. 45 Clemson and three shots in front of No. 5 Texas.

After commenting on how well he was hitting balls on the range this morning, sophomore Nick Losole (Scottsdale, Ariz./Scottsdale Notre Dame) came out red hot, making birdies at Nos. 4, 5 and 8 to quickly move to 3-under par through six holes. A bogey at No. 9 and a birdie at No. 11 kept him at 3-under after nine holes of play.

On the 544-yard par-5 15th, Losole found himself right in front of the green in two following a pair of strong shots, but it took four strokes to get down from there for a bogey. At the end of his round, he made bogey at No. 1 before carding a birdie at No. 2 --which had been NU's nemesis at the start of the day -- to end up at 2-under 70 and in ninth place individually.

Senior David Lipsky (La Canada, Calif./La Canada) made bogey on No. 2 before getting that stroke back on No. 6 and moving to 1-under with a birdie at No. 8, where he made a beautiful pitch for a tap-in 4.

"David worked hard on pitching and bunker play between the Big Ten Match Play and Puerto Rico," head coach Pat Goss said. "Glad to see that work pay off for him here."

Lipsky made par on the next three holes before a third birdie at No. 12 pushed him further into red numbers, but two bogeys against one more birdie down the stretch left him in 15th place at 1-under 71 for the day.

Freshman Brad Shigezawa (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou Academy) was even par until plugging a ball in the bunker at No. 7 and carding a bogey, but he bounced back right away with a birdie on the par-5 eighth after getting to just in front of the green in two.

Four bogeys against two birdies the rest of the way, including a bogey at No. 2, led to a 2-over 74 and a 42nd-place first-day position for Shigezawa.

Junior Eric Chun (Ansung City, South Korea/International Christian School) had a nightmare beginning to his tournament, making triple-bogey on No. 2 and finding himself 6-over par through nine holes. He recovered in very strong fashion with four-straight birdies from Nos. 13 through 16 to get to 2-over 74 along with Shigezawa.

"Really impressive fight from Chun today," Goss said. "He fought all the way back from 6-over to shoot a 74, which ended up counting and saving us a stroke."

Senior Josh Dupont (Poway, Calif./Cathedral Catholic) made double bogey on No. 2 to start his tournament, ending up at 4-over par by the time he made the turn, but then a light switch went on. Dupont birdied the first four holes of the back side to get back to even-par, crushing his tee shot on the 358-yard par-4 12th to the front fringe. He would end up with a three-hole bogey streak to complete his round, though, finishing up in 56th position at 3-over 75.

The second round of the Puerto Rico Classic will be held tomorrow, Monday, Feb. 21, before the final round on Tuesday. Live scoring is available at Golfstat.com while Goss' live tweets from the course can be found here.

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