KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The Western Washington University men’s golf team is in 12th place after the first round of the NCAA Division II Men’s Golf Championships played Monday at Reunion Resort.

The Vikings recorded an opening-round team score of 11-over-par 291 on the Par 70, 7,054-yard Tom Watson Course at Reunion Resort. WWU had one of the early tee times on the day at 7:30 am, and had to wait until later in the afternoon to see its score move them to 12th in the 20-team field.

With 36 holes remaining in stroke play (Tuesday and Wednesday), the Vikings must move up the leaderboard to one of the top eight spots to qualify for the match play round. The eighth-place teams currently stand at +7, just four shots ahead of the Vikings. The tightly-packed field features 10 teams all within eight strokes of each other spanning places 7-16. WWU is second amongst the five qualifying West Region schools, two shots back of Stanislaus State (T10th, +9) and one stroke better than 13th-place California Baptist (+12, 292).

Barry (-6, 274), West Florida (-4, 276), Florida Tech (-3, 277) and Florida Southern (E, 280) hold the top four sports in the team standings while playing the national tournament in their home state.

“We had a little trouble around the greens today, but nothing these guys can’t get dialed in by tomorrow,” said head coach Luke Bennett. “We grinded out there and hung in there. It’s only the first round and we are right there in the hunt, which is all you can ask for.”

Senior Brett Johnson (Ridgefield, WA/Oregon State) led the Western contingent firing an even-par round of 70 to open the tournament in a 10-way tie for 17th place. The two-time First Team All-GNAC selection recorded three birdies, one bogey and a double-bogey in his opening round to turn in one of the 26 rounds of par or better in the 108-player field. Johnson was WWU’s highest finisher at the West/South Central Super Regional tying for 6th place.

“Brett played solid from start to finish and very easily could have been under par,” said Bennett.

Senior Chris Hatch (Mukilteo, WA/Kamiak) and freshman Ethan Casto (Snohomish, WA) turned in solid rounds of 3-over-par 73 to tie for 48th place. Senior Jeffrey Marcum (Richland, WA/South Mountain CC) stands in a tie for 68th place at 5-over-par (75) and sophomore Michael Butler (Sammamish, WA/Skyline) is tied for 78th at 6-over-par (76).

“Ethan played much better than his score, but had some unfortunate bogeys to end his round,” added Bennett. “Chris really grinded all day and made a few outstanding up-and-down pars when he needed to.”

Florida Southern’s John Coultas holds a one-stroke lead for individual medalist honors with an opening-round 5-under-par 65.

Fans and media can follow the second round leaderboard and team standings via Golfstat. WWU will tee off in the second round starting at 12 pm ET/9 am PT on the 10th hole.

— @WWUMGolf —