The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Bayou City Collegiate Championship
No. 2 Men's Golf holds first-round lead at Bayou City Collegiate Championship
02.22.2013 | Men's Golf
Feb. 22, 2013
HUMBLE, Texas -- Senior Julio Vegas fired an opening-round 69 in the Bayou City Collegiate Championship at Redstone Golf Club to lead the No. 2 Texas Men's Golf team atop Friday's leaderboard at 3-under 285, but junior walk-on Brax McCarthy commanded a one-stroke lead over the field after firing a 5-under 67 while competing as an individual for the Longhorns.
After a pair of pars to begin his day on Nos. 10 and 11, McCarthy made one eagle and three birdies over the next five holes and was 5-under through seven. He holed out his second shot on the par-4, 300-yard 12th hole for eagle, and found birdies on Nos. 13, 15 and 16. He sustained his five-shot lead through the turn, but bogeys on Nos. 1 and 5 briefly dropped McCarthy to -3. He found his fourth and fifth birdies of the day on the seventh and eighth holes - his 16th and 17th - to enter the clubhouse as Friday's individual leader.
Playing in the No. 4 position of the Texas lineup and in the second group overall, Vegas set the tone early with a birdie on his first hole. He sank two more birdie putts on the sixth and eighth holes to make the turn at 3-under. Back-to-back birdies came at Nos. 12 and 13 and Vegas dipped to -5. His only blemish came on the par-5, 572-yard 15th hole when he succumbed to a double bogey and lost two strokes. He finished with three straight pars and Vegas signed for a 3-under 69 to tie for third place.
Freshman Brandon Stone, junior Toni Hakula and sophomore Kramer Hickok each finished the day at even-par 72 and are tied for 16th place. Senior Cody Gribble rounded out the burnt orange contingent tied for 27th with a 73.
As a team, the four low scorers in Texas' lineup combined for 4-under on the front nine and 1-over on Redstone's back half.
Big 12 Conference partner Baylor (286) trails Texas by one stroke and is in second place on the 15-team leaderbarod, while Charlotte (289) is two strokes behind the Bears in third. Chattanooga, UT Arlington and East Carolina are in a three-way tie for fourth place at 2-over 290.
Saturday's second-round tee times will be available later this evening on Golfstat.com.
Bayou City Collegiate Championship
Redstone Golf Club (par 72; 6,963 yards)
First-round results
1. TEXAS - 285 (-3)
2. Baylor - 286 (-2)
3. Charlotte - 289 (+1)
T4. Chattanooga - 290 (+2)
T4. UT Arlington - 290 (+2)
T4. East Carolina - 290 (+2)
7. Louisiana Tech - 291 (+3)
8. UTSA - 292 (+4)
T9. Houston - 294 (+6)
T9. South Carolina - 294 (+6)
T9. Houston Baptist - 294 (+6)
12. Lamar - 295 (+7)
T13. Indiana - 296 (+8)
14. New Mexico State - 299 (+11)
15. Rice - 309 (+21)
First-round player leaderboard
1. Brax McCarthy, TEXAS * - 67 (-5)
2. Kyle Pilgrim, Houston * - 68 (-4)
T3. Franco Castro, Charlotte - 69 (-3)
T3. Liam Johnston, Chattanooga - 69 (-3)
T3. Victor Lange, Louisiana Tech - 69 (-3)
T3. Paul McConnell, UT Arlington - 69 (-3)
T3. Julio Vegas, TEXAS - 69 (-3)
T3. Filippo Zucchetti, Baylor - 69 (-3)
T9. Tor-Erik Knudson, Lamar - 70 (-2)
T9. Grayson Murray, East Carolina - 70 (-2)
* - denotes competing as an individual
Texas Players
T16. Brandon Stone - 72 (E)
T16. Toni Hakula - 72 (E)
T16. Kramer Hickok - 72 (E)
T27. Cody Gribble - 73 (+1)
