HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla.—Wittenberg men's golf finished the first 18 holes of the 2017 NCAA Men's Golf Championship tied for sixth place with a 10-over 298 on Tuesday. Cameron Willisshined for the Tigers on day one, as the freshman is currently tied for second individually after firing a two-under 70.
The Eaton, Ohio native birdied his final hole to pull into a tie with David Rabil of Christopher Newport University in the first NCAA Championship round of his career. Willis held on to sole possession of first place through hole number 15 on Tuesday before the leaderboard began to shift.
As a team, Wittenberg sits tied with Oglethorpe in sixth place. Garrett Brickley cracked the top 25 of the leaderboard after round one, carding a two over 74.
Huntingdon leads after one round at Mission Inn, as Texas-Tyler, Rhodes, and LaGrange are in a three-way tie for second place.
The 42 teams and five individual competitors will return to Mission Inn Wednesday morning at 7:30 a.m., with the teams that played El Campeon on Tuesday flipping to Las Colinas and vice versa. After Wednesday's second round, the field will be cut to the top 18 teams and the top six individuals not on those teams for the final two rounds Thursday and Friday.
PING ALL REGION
Division III PING All-Region honorees were also announced by the GCAA upon the conclusion of round one. Players across six regions – Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Great Lakes, Central and West – earned all-region honors for 2017.
Brickley, Isaac Hartley, Colin Laszlo, Sam Stilwell and Mark David Wright all earned Great Lakes All-Region Honors for the Tigers in 2017.
DAVE WILLIAMS AWARD
Division III finalists for the Dave Williams Award presented by Golf Pride Grips were also announced by the GCAA on Tuesday. The Williams Award honors the national coach of the year in Division III men's golf. Williams Award and regional coach of the year recipients will be announced June 5.
Wittenberg's head coach Jeff Roope was named one of this year's finalists. Roope has led Wittenberg to five victories this season. The Tigers posted five additional top four finishes, including two runner-up showings. They finished outside the top four only once in 11 events. Roope was named both the men's and women's North Coast Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.