LIHUE — Wailua Golf Course has a new course record holder. University of Virginia senior Jimmy Stanger finished the first round of the John A. Burns Intercollegiate tournament Wednesday atop the individual leaderboard, shooting a course record 10-under-par 62. “It
LIHUE — Wailua Golf Course has a new course record holder.
University of Virginia senior Jimmy Stanger finished the first round of the John A. Burns Intercollegiate tournament Wednesday atop the individual leaderboard, shooting a course record 10-under-par 62.
“It was one of those days where everything was working,” Stanger said following his record-setting round. “It’s probably the first time in my life I felt like my driver felt great, my irons felt great and my wedges felt great. I had two chips today I hit to (within) a foot. And the putting, everything looked like it was going in.
“Between that, and I really had a good mental approach out there,” he continued. “I had Bible verses I had down in my book that I was really reading. That really settled my mind because I had never shot below 7-under. So, it was a good round.”
Virginia also holds the top spot on the team leaderboard after the opening round with a collective score of 20-under-par 268. In second is Texas A&M with 12-under-par 276, and third is UNLV with 6-under-par 282.
“Just an unbelievable job,” Stanger said. “This is our first event of the season. It just shows the kind of competition we have within our team, that we can transfer it onto a tournament course — a place that’s hosted public links championships in the past. To be able to show the other teams what we’re made of, it’s awesome.”
The University of Hawaii’s men’s golf team, host of the 41st annual Burns Intercollegiate, finished Wednesday with a 10-over-par 298 and sits in 13th place out of 18.
“As far as my team, we’re the same all year. Inconsistencies of our youth kind of get us sometimes,” said UH men’s golf head coach Ronn Miyashiro. “I told the boys, ‘Yeah, we do have a starting lineup and we do have five individuals. But at any point in time, it could switch at any given week.”
He continued: “Other than (senior Justin “Pono” Tokioka and junior Chayutpol Kittirattanapaiboon), the rest of the team are sophomores and freshmen. The youth has shown all year. It’s just a matter us getting consistency and going in the right direction.”
UH had three players finish the round even-par 72 and is tied at 23rd place individually. Among them is Tokioka, who is a Kauai High School alumnus.
“I feel really good,” Tokioka said. “I kind of struggled with driving. I was struggling a little bit, but I made a lot of putts to save pars. I played with good players. They’re No. 1 on their teams. They’re really good. So, I feel good today. Got under a little pressure, but I’m just happy to be here.”
Also from Kauai is UH sophomore and Kapaa High alumnus Bryden Salvador, who finished Wednesday 6-over-par 78.
“I felt today like I was scrambling,” Salvador said. “I missed a lot of greens and put myself out of position on most holes. I just couldn’t get up and down from there. But I feel OK. There’s some shots I left out there, of course, but tomorrow I feel I can go lower than today.”
On the individual leaderboard, Virginia’s Derek Bard and Arizona’s Jordan Gumberg and both tied for second with 6-under-par 66. Texas A&M’s Chandler Phillips and Arizona’s Brad Reeves are tied for fourth at 5-under-par 67.
Though it was rainy and cloudy Wednesday, Miyashiro said the course conditions were ideal.
“I’ll be honest. The course was in prime condition,” he said. “It was there for the scoring. There was no wind. It was a little softer because of the rain, which you could see, there were some low scores today.”
Stanger, too, said the course was in “absolutely perfect shape” despite the weather.
“Hands down, the best I’ve seen this course in my three years playing here,” Stanger said. “The greens were rolling. Perfect speed, even with all the rain we’ve gotten here. Great job by the course superintendent here. The course was playing, honestly, it was playing pretty difficult. The pins were in some tough locations, and I was able to manage that well today.”
Plays continues today with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start.
First Round
Wailua Golf Course
Par 72; 6,991 yards
Team
1. Virginia, -20 (268)
2. Texas A&M, -12 (276)
3. UNLV, -6 (282)
4. Brigham Young, -4 (284)
5. Santa Clara, -1 (287)
6. Kennesaw State, +1 (289)
T7. Texas-El Paso, +2 (290)
T7. Arizona, +2 (290)
T9. Grand Canyon, +3 (291)
T9. California, +3 (291)
11. Washington, +6 (294)
12. New Mexico, +7 (295)
13. Hawaii, +10 (298)
14. North Dakota State, +11 (299)
15. Utah, +13 (301)
16. Washington State, +14 (302)
17. Northern Colorado, +16 (304)
18. Hawaii-Hilo, +28 (316)
Individual Top 10
1. Jimmy Stanger, Virginia, -10 (62)
T2. Derek Bard, Virginia, -6 (66)
T2. Jordan Gumberg, Arizona, -6 (66)
T4. Chandler Phillips, Texas A&M, -5 (67)
T4. Brad Reeves, Arizona, -5 (67)
T6. Patrick Fishburn, Brigham Young, -4 (68)
T6. Shintaro Ban, UNLV, -4 (68)
T8. Brandon Smith, Texas A&M, -3 (69)
T8. Danny Walker, Virginia, -3 (69)
T8. Kavan Eubank, Texas A&M, -3 (69)
University of Hawaii
1. Justin Tokioka, E (72)
2. Cameron Kaneko, E (72)
3. Samuel Schwartz, +8 (80)
4. Nicholaus Nelson, +4 (76)
5. Trevor Hirata, +6 (78)
Taiga Iwasa, +5 (77)
Chayutpol Kittirattanapaiboon, E (72)
Desmond Mello, +11 (83)
Bryden Salvador, +6 (78)
Shane Snow, +9 (81)
Full results at golfstat.com
