Nov. 3, 2014
SAN MARTIN, Calif. (SMU) - The No. 20 SMU Mustangs closed out the first round at the Gifford Collegiate on Monday, spending a portion of the day in the top three before dropping off and ending the round in ninth place.
Junior
Austin Smotherman led the Mustangs with a 1-under 70 to end Monday tied for 10th individually. Sophomore
Alex Higgs, who is participating as an individual and not counting toward the team score, also posted a 70. Higgs' score is the second-lowest of his collegiate career.
Junior
Bryson Dechambeau and freshman
Ben Baxter are each tied for 31st after shooting identical 3-over 74s. Sophomore
Andrew Buchanan (5-over) and freshman
Gray Townsend (6-over) also providing counting scores for the Mustangs.
Despite the slow start, SMU head coach
Jason Enloe believes his team has already taken the steps necessary to improve tomorrow.
"We practiced hard after today's round and hope to have corrected some things," Enloe said. "We hope to post a good score tomorrow and make up some ground. Our players are talented enough to compete at this level, they just need to go out and do it."
No. 22 USC leads the tournament at 2-under, with host No. 6 UCLA, No. 4 Texas, Northwestern and No. 14 Stanford rounding out the top five.
SMU will begin the second round at 9:30 a.m. CT tomorrow, grouped with Colorado and Wisconsin.
