USF Athletics

Bulls in Fourth Place After Day 1 of Kissimmee Regional

May 14, 2018

PHOTO GALLERY

TEAM SCORES
PLAYER SCORES
 

By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer

KISSIMMEE, Fla., MAY 14, 2018 – Fourth-seeded USF started its NCAA Kissimmee Regional run in fourth place after carding a 6-under 282 team score in Monday's rainy opening round.

No. 20 USF is six shots away from the lead with 36 more holes to play over the next two days at Reunion Resort's Watson Course (par 72, 7,154 yards). The low five teams and the low individual not on those teams from each of the six 54-hole regional tournaments advance to the NCAA Championship rounds.

Leading the Bulls at the start of the program's sixth straight NCAA Regional appearance was senior Claudio Correa, who shot a 3-under 69. The American's player of the year is tied for ninth place in the 75-player field and just two shots off the lead. Correa went 3-under on the front nine in the afternoon after sinking an eagle putt from about 50 feet out on the par-5, 581-yard eighth hole.

Just a shot behind Correa is Cristian DiMarco, who carded a 2-under 70. The senior from Longwood, Fla., is tied for 16^th place after posting his fifth consecutive round of par or better.

Jimmy Jones also produced for the Bulls with a 1-under 71 that has the senior from Tampa in a tie for 21^st place. Sophomore Kyle Flexsenhar (Lake Mary, Fla.) led the Bulls with a 3-under performance in the morning on the back nine and finished the day with an even-par 72.


USF Scores

4	South Florida	282	282
T9	Claudio Correa (1)	69	69
T16	Cristian DiMarco (2)	70	70
T21	Jimmy Jones (5)	71	71
T33	Kyle Flexsenhar (3)	72	72
T56	Priyanshu Singh (4)	75	75

 

Quotable
Head coach Steve Bradley's thoughts on the team's performance in the first round:
"It was a solid day, considering the conditions. It rained on us for about 10 holes. We had a weather delay for an hour, 10 minutes and we weren't able to re-warm back up. That kind of throws you out of rhythm. I think all in all, we did a pretty good job battling the weather and we played pretty solid."

Bradley on Claudio Correa's team-leading round of 3-under 69:
"Claudio played solid. I think he probably scored as high as he could have scored today. He hit the ball pretty well and just didn't hit anything really close. The eagle he made on the eighth hole, which was his 17^th hole the day, he got a 50-footer and certainly had some luck to get that in. I think overall, he hit the ball pretty well today and I would certainly expect him to continue to do that over the next couple days."

Bradley's thoughts on the lineup and the keys to success heading into Tuesday's second round:
"I think the vibe is pretty good. The guys are confident and I think their good is really good. They need to go out and still try to win this golf tournament, which is certainly the goal. I think the key is just to stay patient and stay positive. I think we're going to get some more weather tomorrow. We can't let what other teams are doing affect our mindset and how we play this golf course. We just need to go handle our business and we'll be fine."


Notables

• Play was suspended early in the opening round because of heavy rain. The teams resumed the round at 9:46 a.m. after a delay of one hour, 10 minutes.
• Cristian DiMarco extended his par-or-better streak to five straight rounds, dating back to the final round of USF's regular season finale at the Old Waverly Collegiate. Claudio Correa and Jimmy Jones have carded four consecutive rounds of par or better.
• Correa was one of only three players to collect an eagle during the opening round.
• As a team, USF has recorded par or better scores in five straight rounds.
• USF is tied for the lead in par-5 scoring with a stroke average of 4.45 (-11).

Up Next
Senior Priyanshu Singh (Delhi, India) will lead off the Bulls' second round from the 10^th hole Tuesday at 8 a.m. Follow the action in progress at the official Golfstat.com scoring page HERE.
 
About USF Men's Golf
USF men's golf returns six players from the 2016-17 team that captured the program's third consecutive American Athletic Conference Championship title. This season, head coach Steve Bradley guided the Bulls to their fourth straight conference tournament title in wire-to-wire fashion. The latest title victory helped USF match the program season wins record of five set in 2014-15. Follow @USFMGolf on Twitter for the latest information concerning the program.