May 15, 2014
SUGAR GROVE, Ill. – Playing as one of five individual qualifiers at the 2014 NCAA Sugar Grove (Ill.) Regional at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill., University of Notre Dame senior men’s golfer Niall Platt shot an eight-over-par opening round 80 on the par 72, 7,151-yard course on Thursday, May 15.
The Santa Barbara, Calif., native, who earlier this week earned all-Atlantic Coast Conference honors, began the day from the first hole. After starting the day with a bogey on the par-four first hole, Platt came back to birdie the 552-yard second hole. After back-to-back bogeys on holes three and four, he went on to par four of the remaining five holes on the front nine to finish three-over par on the front nine.
Platt would begin the back nine with back-to-back pars on the par-four and par-five holes 10 and 11, respectively, but ran into trouble on the final seven holes as he registered six bogeys. He snapped a string of consecutive bogeys on the par-four 12th and par-three 13th holes when he birdied 14th, par-four, 396-yards. Following the birdie, Platt finished off the round with bogeys on the final four holes.
Heading into tomorrow’s (Friday, May 16) second-round action, Platt is in a seven-way tie for 47th among the 75 competitors in the field.
While Platt is competing as an individual and is just the second Notre Dame golfer to do so, the regional does include 14 teams vying for a spot in the national finals. No. 21 UAB leads following day one after shooting a four-over-par 292. No. 9 Illinois is one stroke back at +5, 293. ACC foe Clemson, ranked 33rd, is in third along with No. 39 Kent State following an 11-over-par 299. Jacksonville State and No. 14 Southern California are tied for fifth following a 14-over-par 302 round. Rounding at the top-10 in the field are No. 4 California (+17, 305), No. 28 UNLV (+20, 308), No. 45 Purdue (+21, 309), followed by Cleveland State and Mississippi State who are tied for 10th after both shooting 27-over-par 315.