Oct. 12, 2009

Akron, Ohio - It was as an uncomfortable day of golf as the Tigers had experienced in some time during the opening day of the Firestone Invitational. Having to shake off an acceptable amount of rust in their first collegiate tournament of the fall season was made even worse as temperatures crept lower into the 40's and scores made their way the opposite direction.

Starting on back-nine of Firestone Country Club's par-72 North Course the Pacific golf team dug themselves an early hole; juniors TJ Bordeaux led in the morning with a 75 with teammate Patrick Kucich just a shot back at 76. But from there the Tigers dropped off with Bayhaan Lakdawala shooting 79, Alex Johnson 80 and Danny Garcia at 82.

Finding a little bit of their groove after the opening round the Tigers came back in the second half of the day to put themselves back in the top ten. Garcia exacted some revenge by posting the team's best round of the day with a one-under 71 while both Kucich and Johnson managed one-over 73's. Bordeaux contributed a 76, as did Lakdawala to put the Tigers in better position going into the final round tomorrow morning.

"We've got to figure out a way to get it around," said Kucich. "Sometimes you're going to have that day when you're swing isn't perfect but you've still got to find a way to get it in the hole. We just didn't do that in the morning."

Eastern Michigan leads the Invitational with an even par 576 and St. Mary's remains a stroke off the lead with Michigan State at third and Kentucky in fourth. Final round action for the Tigers starts tomorrow morning at 5:30 a.m. PST.