Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
NCAA Regionals
Wake Forest Second After Day One Of NCAA Regional
5/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
May 14, 2009
GALLOWAY, N.J. - On an extremely windy day off the shores of Reeds Bay in Galloway, N.J., the Wake Forest men's golf team fired a strong round of 297 to stand just one shot out of the lead after day one of the NCAA Northeast Regional.
The Galloway National Golf Club, which covers 7,022 yards and plays to a par-71, yielded very few low scores on Thursday. In fact, nobody broke par in the opening round.
"It was a very windy day out there today and I thought our guys played a heck of a round," said head coach Jerry Haas. "This is a difficult golf course and then when the wind blows like this, it can be brutal. The guys all hung in there and took what the course was giving them today, knowing that everyone was going to struggle. Their attitudes were great all day."
The Demon Deacons were led by freshman Lee Bedford's round of 1-over 72. He started his day with a birdie at No. 10 but despite ten pars over the next 14 holes, Bedford found himself three over with two holes to play.
The Cary, N.C., native then made a nice birdie at the tough par-three eighth and followed that with a solid birdie-4 at the ninth to finish with a 72.
Bedford is currently tied for second, just one shot off the lead.
"The eighth and ninth holes are not easy holes and I think we played them at even-par as a team," said Haas. "Even though the conditions were tough, the guys hung in there well. Nobody put their head down or got too emotional. They just stayed with it and finished off a good round."
Junior Brandon Gielow played the final two holes at even par on his way to a round of 74 while senior Dustin Groves made a birdie at the ninth to post a 75.
Despite making three double-bogies in his round, freshman Daniel Meggs hung in there and made three birdies in his round 78. He will start the second round tied for 27th.
Junior Travis Wadkins rounded out the Demon Deacon scorers with a round of 79.
Tennessee got an even-par round from individual leader Darren Renwick and the Volunteers lead the team standings after a round of 12-over 296. Wake Forest is a shot back followed by Virginia in third, Alabama in fourth and Illinois fifth.
The top-five teams at the end of 54 holes will advance to the NCAA Championships on May 26-30 at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.
Clemson, the top-seeded team in the regional, is currently in sixth place. The Tigers got off to a rough start and never really recovered, carding an opening round 310.
Wake Forest will be in the final pairing Friday morning with Tennessee and Virginia. The first grouping will tee off the front nine at 9:40 a.m. Live scoring of the event can be found at www.golfstat.com.
Wake Forest Scores
T2 Lee Bedford 72 (+1)
T5 Brendan Gielow 73 (+2)
T7 Dustin Groves 74 (+3)
T27 Daniel Meggs 78 (+7)
T38 Travis Wadkins 79 (+8)
2 TEAM 297 (+13)
Players Mentioned
