Overview
The Chattanooga Mocs men's golf team opened NCAA Championships play with a 6-over 294 at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa. That puts the Scenic City lads in a tie for 18th with Louisville. The Mocs are just two behind #16 Oklahoma, #18 Tennessee and #23 Georgia in 15th, while clearing the 20th-place duo of No. 5 Oklahoma State and Arkansas State by one.
 
UCLA has the early lead with an 8-under 280. That's four ahead of No. 1 Auburn in second with No. 14 Pepperdine another stroke back in third. Camden Braidech led the Mocs with an even-par 72. The counting cards were completed by triple 74s by Ward Harris, Ethan Whitaker and Griffin Law. Evan Rogers had the drop with 76.
 
Quotable
"The guys got on to a good start, which is nice. Especially in this setting, and it being new for all of them, I thought from the very beginning they were pretty settled and confident, which is good. I just think we putted really poorly today. I think the rest of it was actually pretty good and we ended up sixth in the morning wave. That was with a lot of sloppy three putts. We're not far off, just go clean up a couple things and get ready for tomorrow afternoon." – Coach Blaine Woodruff
 
Resources: Stats/Notes | Scoring | Tee Times | Streaming
 
Tourney 12: NCAA Championships
Dates: May 29-June 3 | Format: 18/day + Match Play | Host: Texas
Course: Omni La Costa Spa & Resort | Carlsbad, Calif | Par 72 | 7,528 yds
1) #30 UCLA: 280 (-8)
2) #1 Auburn: 284 (-4)
3) #14 Pepperdine: 285 (-3)
T4) #29 Duke: 286 (-2)
T4) #42 San Diego: 286 (-2)
T6) #3 Texas: 287 (-1)
T6) #12 Arizona: 287 (-1)
T6) #10 North Carolina: 287 (-1)
T6) #11 Vanderbilt: 287 (-1)
T10) #4 Virginia: 288 (E)
T10) #6 Arkansas: 288 (E)
T12) #2 Florida: 291 (+3)
T12) #13 Arizona State: 291 (+3)
T12) #15 Stanford: 291 (+3)
T15) #23 Georgia: 292 (+4)
T15) #18 Tennessee: 292 (+4)
T15) #16 Oklahoma: 292 (+4)
T18) Chattanooga: 294 (+6)
T18) #33 Louisville: 294 (+6)
T20) #5 Oklahoma State: 295 (+7)
T20) #39 Arkansas State: 295 (+7)
T22) #40 Purdue: 296 (+8)
T22) #22 BYU: 296 (+8)
24) #28 USC: 297 (+9)
25) #37 Mississippi State: 298 (+10)
26) #20 Texas A&M: 299 (+11)
27) Memphis: 301 (+13)
T28) #7 LSU: 303 (+15)
T28) #9 Ole Miss: 303 (+15)
30) #26 Florida State: 307 (+19)
Mocs in the Field:
T35) Camden Braidech: 72 (E)
T74) Griffin Law: 74 (+2)
T74) Ethan Whitaker: 74 (+2)
T74) Ward Harris: 74 (+2)
T100) Evan Rogers: 76 (+4)
 
Breakdown

• Chattanooga played the opening 9 (holes 10-18) at 1 under. That grew to 3 under of Law and Braidech birdied 10.
• The Mocs were 1 under through 13 holes before playing 7 over on the final five with a birdie and eight bogeys.
• The counting cards accumulated 17 birdies with a high five each from Braidech and Law.
• Law turned at 3 over but played his final nine at 1 under with four of his five birdies on that side (holes 1-9). His four birdies on the side doubled the rest of the counters (2).
• The Mocs were even on the par 3s, 3 over on the par 4s and 3 over on the par 5s.
• Tomorrow's second round sees the field flip in waves. Chattanooga moves to the afternoon wave with a 4:40 p.m. (ET) opening on No. 1 led by Law. He's followed by Whitaker (4:51), Harris (5:02), Rogers (5:13) and Braidech (5:24). The squad is once again paired with San Diego and Memphis.

 
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