Sophomores John Axelsen and Chris Nido headlined a solid start to the first round of the NCAA Regional Tournament for the Florida men’s golf team.
The two led Florida with 3-under opening rounds each, resulting in a sixth place tie for the team after Day 1 of a three day event.
Axelsen, notched as Florida’s top golfer for the tournament, stayed clean in Pullman, Washington, with a bogey-free round. The Dane carded a birdie on the eighth hole, and followed up with two more on the back nine to complete his ninth place start.
Nido had a stronger start to his round with two quick birdies on holes four and five, before dropping back to even after two bogeys on the following three holes. After calming down, the Miami native out of Gulliver Prep carded three birdies in the final four holes to finish tied with Axelsen in ninth place.
The remaining three Gators’ weren’t as fortunate on the Palouse Ridge course. Gordon Neale, Eugene Hong and Blake Dyer failed to finish under-par on the round. Neale notched three bogies in the first 11 holes before carding a birdie on the 14th to save his round at even par.
Despite two birdies on the front nine for Hong, a double-bogey on the fourth hole leveled his first nine at even. His back nine was much more chaotic. The freshman carded four bogeys in a seven-hole span with just two birdies, resulting in a 2-over finish tied at 58th place.
Dyer closed things out for Florida as the No. 5 golfer with a relatively quiet round. The redshirt junior notched three birdies and just one bogey. A triple bogey on 17 blemished his round into a 1-over finish.
Florida stands tied with South Carolina, UCLA and Purdue in sixth, and needs a top-five finish after the third day of play to advance to the NCAA Championships.
Follow Victor Prieto on Twitter @victorprieto_11. Contact him at vprieto@alligator.org.
