A&T Men’s Golf opens spring season in Myrtle Beach

MYRTLE BEACH, SC The North Carolina A&T men’s golf team completed the first day of Appalachian State’s Bash at the Beach at the par-71, 6,705-yard The Surf Golf and Beach Club course with a 15th-place finish on Monday.

The Aggies played two rounds of golf Monday, shooting a 19-over, 602 and finishing the day 40 strokes behind tournament leader Oral Roberts, who carded a 6-under, 562. App State is tied for second at 2-under, 566, followed by UConn (567), Long Island University (570) and Utah Valley (571) round out the top five.

Freshman Samuel Drew Walker led the Aggies on the course by shooting a two-round 5-over 147. He’s six shots into 45th place, 11 shots behind leader Cadan Webber of Utah Valley, who shot 6-under 136. Three-way tie for second at 5-under 137. App State’s Lukas Jonsson, LIU’s Marcelo Mexsen and Rhode Island’s Bryson Richards. Oral Roberts’ Rocco Repetto-Taylor is fifth at 4 under at 138.

Junior Martin Gutierrez had the second-lowest score for the Aggies as he finished in a seven-round tie for 75th at 9-over 151. Graduated Diego Gonzalez finished in a three-way tie for 84th at 9-over 153. Sophomore Carson Witherspoon finished with a two-round 154 and junior Conrad Huts shot 155.

Walker carded three birdies, including the second hole he played on Monday, the 366-yard, par-4 No. 9. The birdie moved Walker to par before he parred holes 10-13 before moving to 1-over. bogey par-4 14th. He then carded par on the par-4 15th before bogeying 16, 17 and 18 to move to 4-over. But he turned in the Clubhouse and caught fire.

He bogeyed the par-3, 185-yard No. 3 and the par-5, 532-yard No. 5 to drop to 2-over. He finished the first round with two pars before starting his second round on the par-4, 430-yard eighth. He had just one birdie on his card in the second. It happened on the par-4, 317-yard 11th. Walker shot 3 over in the second round.

Gutierrez shot 6-over in the first round, but recovered with four birdies in the second round. He started the second round with a birdie on the 471-yard, par-4 No. 10. He stayed at 1-under for the round until he was tied for 14th. He birdied the next two holes before birdieing the par-5, 561-yard 17th to get back to 1-under.

He finished at 1-under for the tournament before back-to-back birdies on the par-5 No. 1 and par-4 No. 2 to move to 3-under for the round and 3-over for the tournament. Over the last seven holes of the second round with a double bogey, four bogeys and two pars to finish the second round at 3-over.

Gonzalez shot 2-over in the first round after carding four birdies. The Aggies will conclude the tournament on Tuesday in the third round.