PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — Paced by a 2-under-par scorecard from individual leader Joshua Hong, UTSA seized the day-one lead at the Compadres Collegiate, which teed off Sunday at Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club (par 71/6,701 yards).
Hong fired a 70 to grab the individual lead and help the Roadrunners build a seven-shot lead in the team standings.
UTSA posted a 4-over 292 to shoot to the top of the leaderboard, seven strokes ahead of North Texas and host UTRGV, who are tied for second at 11-over par. Western Carolina (+16) and ULM (+17) round out the top five in the nine-team field with 36 holes remaining over the next two days.
Hong has a one-shot lead in the individual race ahead of Western Carolina’s Tyler Jones (+1). Playing in his native country, the freshman from Guadalajara, Mexico, started on No. 5 and proceeded to write down birdies on his first three holes. He made four on the 489-yard fifth, two on the 144-yard sixth and four on the 547-yard seventh to get to 3-under for the day. He then moved to 4-under with a birdie on the 424-yard, par-4 10th before settling for a pair of bogeys and a double that dropped him back to even par. He then registered birdies on the 16th and 18th holes before starting the front side of the course with another circled number. To close the day, he recorded a three on the 377-yard fourth to counter back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 2-3. His eight birdies are three more than any other player in the field.
Francisco Solorza is two shots behind his teammate in a tie for third place after carding an even-par 72. The redshirt freshman from Guadalajara logged birdies on three consecutive birdies during his opening round with a three on the 283-yard 13th, a four on the 485-yard 14th and a three on the 401-yard 15th.
Brayden Bare and David Martinez provided the two other counting scores on Sunday, as each posted a 75. Bare, a redshirt junior from Waco, had three birdies on the day, while Martinez, a sophomore from Houston, also circled three of his numbers.
Making his UTSA debut, Sam Acharya had a 77 that included two birdies.
Playing as an individual, Jacob King has a share of sixth after turning in a 1-over 73 that featured three birdies.
Round two is set for a 7:30 a.m. CT shotgun start on Monday.
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