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Three University of Cincinnati men's golfers find themselves in contention after the first round of the American Championship on Sunday at the Black Diamond Ranch in Lecanto, Florida.
Senior Emerson Newsome leads the Bearcats' effort tied for 10th place with UConn's Eric Dietrich after posting an opening-round even-par 72 at the 7,025-yard Quarry Course. Juniors Jared O'Kelley and Brennen Walsh carded 1-over 73 scores to finish one stroke behind Newsome, tied for 12th place with six other players.
Newsome rebounded from a pair of double bogies on his first six holes with an eagle and birdie to make the turn at 1-over. Three birdies over his last five holes helped erase his third double bogie. He carded a par score on 10 other holes to finish even on the day.
O'Kelley enjoyed a solid round, posting an even par score after nine holes and climbed to 1-under after a birdie on fifth hole. However, bogies on his final two holes dropped him to 1-over on the round. Walsh battled through his first nine holes offsetting five bogies with three birdies to make the turn at 2-over. He settled down to record eight consecutive par scores before carding a birdie on his final hole to finish at 1-over.
"It's important for us that Emerson and Jared play well here because they have experience with this course," UC head coach Doug Martin said. "Emerson has to feel good to shoot even par today. He really only had three bad swings that led to those three double bogies. Jared played a really solid round. And it was great to see Brennen manage his composure, shooting a 35 over his last nine holes."
East Carolina's Wesley Cooper and Temple's Brandon Matthews lead the 45-player field at 3-under 69.
As a team, Cincinnati finished the round in sixth place at 7-over 295. USF, ranked No. 15 in the nation, leads the nine-team event at 3-under 285.
"There's still a lot of golf to be played, but I'm really happy with our start," Martin said. "Our mindset for Monday is not going to change. With a good round we have a chance to get back in the tournament."
Second-round action begins at 8 a.m. ET. Live scoring is available at Golfstat.com.
// BEARCAT SCORERS
T-10th - Emerson Newsome, Sr., Dacula, Ga./Mill Creek High School - 72 (E)
T-12th - Brennen Walsh, Jr., Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder High School - 73 (+1)
T-12th - Jared O'Kelley, Jr., Canton, Ga./Creekview High School - 73 (+1)
T-33rd - Austin Squires, Fr., Union, Ky./Ryle High School - 77 (+5)
T-37th - Blake Hamilton, Sr., Union, Ky./Ryle High School - 78 (+6)
// TEAM STANDINGS
1 - No. 15 USF - 285 (-3)
2 - East Carolina - 287 (-1)
3 - No. 35 Houston - 290 (+2)
4 - UCF - 293 (+5)
5 - No. 39 Memphis - 294 (+6)
6 - Cincinnati - 295 (+7)
7 - Tulsa - 300 (+12)
8 - UConn - 302 (+14)
9 - Temple - 304 (+16)