The UTEP men’s golf team shot a first round of two-over-par 282 to finish day one tied for second place at the Fighting Irish Gridiron Classic in Notre Dame, Ind. The Miners are close behind tourney leader Eastern Michigan, which shot even-to-par 280, and tied with Illinois State.
Not far behind is Utah State, which is in fourth place after shooting a three-over-par 283. Tournament host Notre Dame rounds out the top five after shooting a five-over-par 285.
“For a first round we’re in a nice position, we played a decent round,” head coach Scott Lieberwirth said. “I think the guys are a little disappointed because we didn’t play too well today, we had a couple of mistakes with an iron shot and botches, and they think we should have gotten out of the round under par. We hit a few loose shots and bad shots and we didn’t convert up and downs like we would have liked to.”
At the top of the Miners’ scorecard is Andreas Sorenson, who sits tied for seventh in round one after firing a one-under-par 69. Frederik Dreier shot an even-par 70 to finish the day tied for 10th and junior Charles Corner shot a one-over-par 71 to finish in the top 20 tied for 15th. Tied for 27th is Nicklas Pihl, who shot a two-over-par 72. Playing as an individual and in his first tourney for the Miners, freshman Cole Donielson fired a two-over-par 72 to also tie for 27th. Ben Getman rounds out the Miners’ card tied for 42 after shooting a four-over-par 74.
“Top to bottom a very solid performance. Cole shot 72, I am very proud of how he played,” Lieberwirth said. “We’ve got some room for improvement and to clean up a couple of small mistakes today.”
The tournament continues with round two tomorrow morning. The Miners are set to tee off at 8 a.m. (Mountain time). Live stats are available at golfstat.com.
