GOLF | Hathcoat, Gaels Off to Hot Start at Alister Mackenzie

Saint Mary's is in second place going into the final round on Tuesday.

FAIRFAX, Calif. — Saint Mary's got off to a great start at the Alister Mackenzie Invitational and will head into the final round on Tuesday in second place in the 15-team field.

THE LEADERBOARD
The Gaels trail only Pepperdine going into the last round and currently hold a two-stroke lead over the host, Cal. Saint Mary's shot 15-under in the opening round before putting up another solid 9-under showing in the middle round to finish at 24-under. Wrapping up the rest of the top-5 are Boise State and Long Beach State.

SMC had three players finish in the top-10 on Monday including Blake Hathcoat who is in sole possession of third. The senior shot 10-under on the day and trails San Jose State's Sean Yu by just five strokes. Evan Peterson and Ethan Farnam also had terrific days on the course as they each finished Monday at 7-under and tied for ninth. Peterson is competing as an individual.

Ash Hakim is off to another steady performance and is currently t-18th at 5-under while Ryan Grauman is in the middle of the pack at even. Michael Slesinski rounds out the Gaels' lineup at 2-over.

The full leaderboard can be found by clicking here.

FIRST AND SECOND ROUND HIGHLIGHTS

Hathcoat and Farnam each shot 6-under in the opening round.
Farnam had an eagle on the par 5 1st hole during the first round.
Hathcoat did not have a single bogey all day.
Peterson had an eagle on the 400 yard par 4 5th hole in the second round.
Hathcoat had three straight birdies from 14th to 16th in the middle round.
The Gaels blew away the rest of the field on par 4's with a 16-under overall score, seven strokes better than the next best team.
Grauman tied for fourth on par 3's with a 2-under total.

UP NEXT: FINAL ROUND