GOLF | VanderVeer Excels To Open Play at Cougar Classic

Friday, April 23

Riverside CC - Provo, Utah

All Day

Saint Mary's College of California

1st and 2nd Rounds

Photo by: Derrick Tuskan/San Diego State

GOLF | VanderVeer Excels To Open Play at Cougar Classic

4/23/2021 9:19:00 PM | Men's Golf

PROVO, Utah — Saint Mary's opened play at the PING Cougar Classic on Friday and managed to get through 33 holes before play was halted in the second round due to darkness. The Gaels are currently in seventh place out of 20 teams.

THE LEADERBOARD
SMC is 5-under at the moment to sit within the top-third of the leaderboard. The team trails Boise State by four strokes for sixth and No. 50 Utah by five strokes for fifth. No. 28 San Francisco currently leads the pack at 20-under with a few holes remaining in the second round.

The Gaels had a fantastic first round and were tied for third at 9-under before running into some difficulties in the middle round.

Unfortunately for Saint Mary's, the team's top performer couldn't count his score as he was competing as an individual. Dylan VanderVeer had two strong rounds, including a 5-under performance on the first 18 holes, to sit t-7th out of 104 competitors going into Saturday. He is currently 5-under overall.

Ethan Ashbrook led SMC's efforts within the lineup and is tied for 9th at 4-under. Like VanderVeer, Ashbrook was 3-under on the front 9 en route to an impressive 4-under score during the opening round.

Evan Peterson should count both of his scores from the first day after shooting 2-under in the first round and sitting even through 15 holes in round two. The redshirt senior is also within the top-20 at t-18th. Rounding out the lineup was Blake Hathcoat who currently sits at 3-over and Michael Slesinski at 5-over.

Hugo Townsend of Boise State and Tim Widing from USF currently share the medalist lead at 10-under.

The complete leaderboard can be seen here.

FIRST AND SECOND ROUND HIGHLIGHTS

VanderVeer posted three straight birdies on holes 5 through 7 in the first round.
All six Gaels scored birdies on the 557 yard par 5 13th during the opening round.
Hathcoat birdied five of the first nine holes to begin his day.
SMC is tied for second on par 5's at 18-under.
VanderVeer tied for first in the field on par 5's with a 6-under total.

UP NEXT: FINAL DAY
The Gaels will conclude their second round tomorrow morning before starting the third and final round. Play begins in shotgun style format with pairings listed here.

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