HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla. (4/23/2017) -- University of Detroit Mercy men's golf senior
Kyle Gaines will take his opening drive in the second round as the leader as the Titan veteran carded a 2-under 70 in the first round of the Horizon League Championship on Sunday.
The three-day, 54-hole event is being held on the par 72, 6,768-yard El Campeon Course at the Mission Inn Resort.
Detroit Mercy used a team effort with three golfers in the top 20 to post a 302 for fourth overall, just five strokes out of second and eight behind the leader.
"I felt like all the guys played well," said head coach
Luke LaFave '02. "We just need to clean up a few unnecessary mistakes, and I think we can make a run in the next couple of days."
Gaines was nearly perfect on the day registering four birdies and 12 pars for his 2-under 70, his best round ever at the conference championship.
He started the day with back-to-back birdies on holes 1 and 2 before finishing his opening nine with five pars in his last six holes. On the back nine, he once again started with a birdie and then reeled off five-straight pars before knocking in a birdie on 16.
Gaines closed out his round with pars on 17 and 18 and will take a one-shot lead into the second day.
"A great start for Kyle as he seemed very focused from the get-go to play well," said coach LaFave. "His putter was hot and that helped him keep a good flow to his round."
Senior
Spencer Lendzion and freshman
Zack Tenerowicz are tied for 20th place with a 77. Lendzion had 10 pars and two birdies on the day, while Tenerowicz started out slow, but finished strong with three birdies and five pars on his final 10 holes.
Junior
Eric Macrow and freshman
Scott Sparks each shot a 78 and share 22nd place. Sparks had three birdies in his round, while Macrow had two birdies and an eagle, getting his third shot to roll in on the Par 5, 14th hole.
The second round of the event will tee off tomorrow at 7:30 a.m., with the Titans set to go at 8:20 a.m. Fans can follow all the action on Golfstat by
clicking here.
