GOLF | Farnam, Gaels in First Place At El Macero Classic

EL MACERO, Calif. — Saint Mary's golf had a fantastic start to the El Macero Classic held at El Macero Country Club and are in first place following Saturday's opening round.

THE LEADERBOARD
The Gaels sit atop the 15-team leaderboard after shooting 10-under as a team. SMC was one of just four schools to begin the event under par and are currently four strokes ahead of the runner-up and host, UC Davis. Four other West Coast Conference teams are also competing in the event alongside SMC including Pacific (4-under), No. 29 San Francisco (3-under), Santa Clara (5-over), and Loyola Marymount (10-over).

Ethan Farnam was a big reason for the team's success in the first round as the senior shot 7-under and now leads all 80 competitors on the medalist leaderboard. The lefty is three strokes ahead of Fresno State's Matthew Sutherland who is in sole possession of second. Farnam was Saint Mary's top performer in the team's most recent tournament at the Redhawk Invitational and tied for eighth in that event.

Not to be overlooked was the play of Blake Hathcoat and Ethan Ashbrook who wrapped up Saturday at 3-under and 2-under, respectively. The Gaels' top trio were three of only 12 golfers to shoot below par in the round. Hathcoat is tied for third in the field while Ashbrook is tied for eighth.

Evan Peterson was the final Gael to count his score at 2-over and is within the top half of the field. Michael Slesinski and individual Dylan VanderVeer each shot 4-over to round out the team's scores.

The full leaderboard can be seen here.

FIRST ROUND HIGHLIGHTS

Farnam and Hathcoat each posted three straight birdies on holes 5 through 7.
SMC tied for first on scores on par 4's (1-over) and was second on par 5's (9-under).
No player had more birdies than Farnam who recorded nine.
As a team, Saint Mary's led the field with 22 birdies.
Farnam dominated par 4's by shooting 3-under on such holes.

UP NEXT: SECOND ROUND
Saint Mary's returns to the course tomorrow for the second round of play at El Macero Golf Course. The team tees off at 9:10 a.m. on the first hole.

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