49ers Athletic Foundation

Charlotte posted the low round of the day and took the lead after round one of the NCAA Columbus Regional Thursday to begin the postseason run in 2013. Charlotte posted a three-over par 287 and take a one-shot lead into round two tomorrow at the OSU Golf Club, Scarlet Course in Ohio.

“We got off to a great start,” said head coach Ryan Cabbage. “In dealing with an event like this, it’s hard to be in position on Saturday without putting yourself in position on Thursday. Teams can do it, but it’s better to do from the start. It’s round one, though. We finished phase one today and phase two tomorrow is all that can we can focus on.”

Charlotte started on the 10th hole on Thursday and got off to a hot start. Freshman Thomas Rowland (Consett, England / St. Bedes Catholic School and Sixth Form College) birdied three of his first holes of the day and senior Braeden Cryderman (Huntsville, Ontario / Queens University of Charlotte) fired birdies in his three of his first four holes of the day. As a team, the 49ers had eight birdies and one bogey collectively in the first four holes of the day and got off to lead which was only lost for a few minutes near the end of the round before regaining it to finish the day.

Charlotte sophomore and two-time A-10 Individual Champion Raoul Menard (Ange-Gardier, Quebec City / Beaulieu) has a one-stroke lead on the individual leader board in Columbus, firing an opening-round 67 to lead by one stroke. He was one-under on his first nine holes, but came up big in his final nine holes (the front nine of the golf course) with four birdies and one bogey for the 67.

“The round that Raoul had was really solid,” added Cabbage. “We had a lot of fun out there today.”

After a windy practice round day on Wednesday, the team experienced good golf weather for the opening round.

“The golf course was tough yesterday, but we learned that you have to put the ball in the fairway and control it on that second shot, added Cabbage. “You have to be very disciplined, and I think we did a good job of that today.”

Junior Joe Toland (White River Junction, Vt. / Hartford HS) had one birdie and four bogeys to go with 13 pars for a level three-over 74, tied for 24th after round one.

The top five teams from this 13-team regional, along with the top five teams at the other five regional tournaments will advance to the NCAA Championship in Atlanta, starting May 28.

The 49ers will be paired with Stanford and South Carolina on Friday, teeing off from the first hole, starting 9:10 a.m.