Georgia golf: Men sit in 11th after Day 1 of NCAAs

Georgia golf saw its men play the first round of stroke play on Friday as the Dawgs sit in 11th place heading into the second day.

The Dawgs didn’t have a terrible day, but they didn’t have the best day either. Georgia shot an 11-over 291 as a collective group, so there is work to do.

Vanderbilt leads after Day 1 as they shot 2-over 282. Oregon sits in second place with Auburn at 5-over 285, then Kansas and Arizona round out the top five at 6-over 286.

Georgia golf has some work to do after finishing 11th on Day 1 at NCAAs.

Freshman phenom Maxwell Ford led the Dawgs with an even-par 70. He birdied his final hole to get to par and sits in eighth place on the individual leaderboard.

Kansas’ Harry Hillier and Auburn’s Brendan Valdes are on the top of the leaderboard at 2-under 68, so Ford is just two shots off the lead.

Senior Trent Phillips was the second best for the Dawgs at 1-over 71. Ben van Wyk shot a 4-over 74, and Buck Brumlow shot 6-over 76 to round out the four scores that counted. Nicolas Cassidy shot an 8-over 78, but it wasn’t included in the score.

Day 1 is all about establishing yourself, and even though there was a lot of over-par scoring, the Dawgs are okay. Georgia needs to keep their heads down and grind on Day 2. They have an earlier tee time, which should help them, but it will all depend on the weather.

Georgia shouldn’t panic because there is still a lot of golf, but it would be nice to see them go low on Day 2 to give them more confidence moving deeper into the tournament.

The Dawgs will play with Arkansas and Wake Forest again on Day 2, but the tee times range 11-11:45 a.m. ET. Earlier tee times may help Georgia on Day 2 as the Dawgs look to move up the leaderboard.