PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) -- Led by junior Manuel Elvira, the UCF men's golf team holds the lead after the first round of the John Hayt Collegiate Invitational at Sawgrass Country Club.
While the team is in first place after one round, Elvira is tied for the individual lead. The Santander, Spain native was 2-under at the turn Friday. He tallied a bogey early in the round, but finished with three birdies before heading to the back nine. Elvira was hot early after making the turn. He tallied an eagle on No. 10 and a birdie on No. 11 to move to 5-under. A pair of bogeys late in the round left him 3-under and tied with three other golfers atop the leaderboard.
Knights head coach Bryce Wallor said Elvira and the rest of his squad continued positive momentum from the final round at last week's tournament.
"Our team had a solid performance today," Wallor said. "We finished up at the Gator (Invitational) last week in good fashion and just continued playing well today. We scored well on the Par 5's as a team and I feel our assistant coach (Adrien Mork) did a great job today helping our players improve on Par 3 scoring. I am excited to see how we play the next two days."
UCF currently holds a one stroke lead, after carding a first-round total score of 285 (-3). Louisville is right behind at -2. The Knights and Cardinals were the only teams under par. Liberty (+1) is in third place in the 15-team field.
In addition to Elvira, senior Ryan Stovash and sophomore Donnie Trosper each had a solid first round. Both were 1-under for the day, turning in identical scores of 71. That was good enough to put them in a 10-way tie for ninth place after 18 holes. Freshman Bobby Bai rounded out the team scoring for the Knights, carding a 2-over round of 74. Juuso Kahlos was also in the lineup and scored a 75 (+3) Friday.
Saturday's second round is set to begin at 8:30 a.m. The Knights are scheduled to begin play at 9:15 a.m. See the link above to follow live scoring.
