Alex Goff Opens Play at Noblesville NCAA Regional
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. – Sophomore Kentucky men’s golfer Alex Goff opened play at the Noblesville Regional with a 4-over par 76 and is tied for 49th overall on the individual leaderboard through the opening 18 holes of the three-day, 54-hole event. The round was delayed an hour and the field faced a light to moderate, but steady rainfall throughout the day.
There’s plenty of runway left for Goff to get back into contention for the individual spot from the Noblesville Regional to take part in the NCAA Championships later this month.
Goff returns to the course on Tuesday for his second round beginning at 9:50 a.m. ET. He’ll tee off from the first.
The Kings Mountain, North Carolina, native got off to a great start with a birdie at the par-five second to move to under par early in his day. Back-to-back bogeys at the fifth and sixth were quickly combatted with the second birdie of his round on the par-five seventh. He yielded the shot back on the ninth to move to 1-over par at the turn.
On the back nine, Goff began in a similar fashion with a quick birdie this time coming at the par-four 10th. A double bogey at the 12th was erased with his fourth birdie of the round at the par-four 13th. Goff closed out the round with a double-bogey at the 15th and a bogey at the 18th to finish his round at 4-over. The 15th was easily the toughest hole of the day for the entire field as 38 players either bogeyed it or double-bogeyed it. Only one player had a birdie.
Texas’ Travis Vick leads the field at 4-under to lead 16 players under par on the opening day of action.
Goff paced the Wildcats this season with a 72.28 stroke average, three top-20 finishes, two top-five finishes and a win at The Blessings Collegiate Invitational to open his sophomore campaign.
He registered a number of career bests. His win at the Blessings was a career-low finish. In a third-place finish at the Legends Collegiate Invitational he tallied a career-low round (64) and a career-low 54-hole score (201). Goff was UK’s top finisher in five of eight events he started, including the Southeastern Conference Championship.
The Sagamore Club is a par-72, 7,173-yard Jack Nicklaus Signature design. The club previously hosted an NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Regional in 2015 with Illinois and SMU sharing the title. Now-major champion Bryson DeChambeau led SMU that year just weeks before winning the individual national championship. Sagamore was also the site of the 2010 NCAA Division II Men’s Golf National Championships.
The top five teams from each regional, along with the top individual not associated with one of those teams, will advance to the National Championships, May 28-June 2 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.
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