UHH men ‘not themselves’ in opening round at Rose

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Sometimes the best thing about the the first round of a golf tournament is that there is a second one.

And so it was Monday for the UH-Hilo men, who were happy to move on to the next one at the Dennis Rose Intercollegiate at the Waikoloa Beach Course.

“They just really didn’t seem like themselves,” assistant coach Sean Maekawa said after the Vuls carded a 22-over 302 and were ninth of 12 teams.

Seeking his fourth win of the season, Keith Ng was tied for 14th after a 1-over 71.

“I think for him he’s probably not happy, but he played OK,” Maekawa said.

Cal State San Bernardino shared the first-round lead, getting a 66 from Brian Nielsen, who was just in front of Joey Gearhy of Western New Mexico, the co-leader.

The next Vulcan was Dustin Franko (76), who was tied for 44th. Andrew Otani (77), Nicholas Gomez (78) and Noah Lau (79) rounded out the fivesome. Golfing as individuals were Junghwan Lee (76) and Ethan Hironaga (80).

In the women’s field at Hapuna, UHH (26-over 314) was eighth of 12 teams, and Kaelyn Uchida was 10th after a 3-over 75 that left her three strokes behind a group of for four co-leaders.

Biola paces the field at 293.

Also for the Vuls, Kailey Oki (77) was tied for 22nd, Kiri Oshiro came in at 80 and Tori Hironaga and Tia Kualii were at 82 and 84, respectively.

The second round is Tuesday with the final 18 on Wednesday.