Kissimmee, Fla. – University of South Alabama men's golfer Yannick Schütz posted five birdies — including on each of the last two holes of the day — to conclude his opening round Monday at the NCAA Kissimmee Regional with a 1-under-par 71 total.

The score left the sophomore just outside of the top 20 of the individual standings after 18 holes, as he is tied for 21st in a field of 75 competitors.  Four individuals are tied for the lead after posting 5-under-par 67s in the first of three rounds at the event, while eighth-ranked Florida and host Central Florida share the first-round lead in the team standings with both recording a 12-under-par 276 group score.

The second day of play will get underway from split tees Tuesday starting at 6:30 a.m. (CDT).


TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Event (host): NCAA Kissimmee Regional (Central Florida)
Date: 5/14
Course: Reunion Resort Watson Course (par 72, 7,154 yds)
Live scoring: http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=pairings&tid=15136

TEAM SCORES
T1) Florida 276 (-12); T1) Central Florida 276; 3) Kent State 280; 4) South Florida 282; T5) Vanderbilt 283; T5) North Carolina 283; 7) Arizona 284; 8) Jacksonville State 286; T9) Purdue 288; T9) Colorado State 288; 11) Saint Mary's (Calif.) 289; 12) Coastal Carolina 290; 13) Georgetown 297; 14) Central Connecticut State 303.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
T1) George Cunningham, UofA 67 (-5); T1) Chase Johnson, KSU 67; T1) Juuso Kahlos, UCF 67; T1) Bobby Bai, UCF 67; T5) Ian Holt, KSU 68; T5) Gordon Neale, UF 68; T5) Andy Zhang, UF 68; T5) Austin Hitt, UNC 68; T9) seven individuals with 69.

SOUTH ALABAMA SCORES
T21) Yannick Schütz 71 (-1).

TEE SHOTS
-The top five teams and highest-finishing individual not from one of those programs at the end of 54 holes will advance to NCAA Championship.
-There was a rain delay of one hour and 10 minutes prior to Schütz' opening hole of the tournament.
-It was his team-leading 12th round at or below par in 2017-18, although it marked the first time he has accomplished the feat over the opening 18 holes of an event since shooting a 70 to start the BIGHORN Invitational on March 23.
-Schütz carded three of his five birdies on the course's par-five holes.
-The sophomore made the turn at 1 under with a four at the 562-yard opening hole and another birdie at No. 7, a par three playing at 240 yards.
-He began the back nine with back-to-back bogeys, but got back to even par by birdying the 525-yard 14th hole.
-The second of two straight birdies to end the day marked the only time Schütz was under par on the back side of the course.

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Ben Hannan
On Schütz' opening round of the regional: "Yannick really hung in there today and battled hard to close birdie-birdie and shoot 1 under, he kept himself in the game.  He had some opportunities to go one way or the other and persevered to put himself in position heading into tomorrow."
On what Schütz did well on Monday: "Yannick drove the ball very well today, it was good enough to have opportunities but he wasn't quite as sharp as normal with his approaches.  His putting inside of 15 feet and his mental game was fantastic and really kept him in it all day."
On second-round expectations: "The weather forecast looks to be roughly the same, so it will once again be about the mindset he will need to get into to prepare for a long day coming and going off the course with delays; Yannick just needs to be ready for anything.  He had a range session after today's round and worked some things out, if he can show up tomorrow, execute like he typically does and make a few putts he should do just fine."

Up next: The second round of the regional will tee off from Nos. 1 and 10 at 6:30 a.m. (CDT) on Tuesday.

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Join the Birdie Club — the men's golf specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund. All donations to the Birdie Club go directly to support the South Alabama men's golf program. For more information on how you can join visit:  jaguarathleticfund.com/birdieclub.

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