ALLENDALE, Mich. - Florida Southern senior Tim Crouch opened his journey that he hopes will lead to a repeat individual national championship here Monday afternoon by firing a three-over par 74 after the first round of the NCAA Division II National Championships at the Meadows Golf Club at Grand Valley State University.
Crouch, who is playing as individual qualifier in this year's D-II National Championships, teed off early in the afternoon from hole No. 1 on Monday and shot a 74 to stand in a nine-way tie for 16th place. Crouch stands just four shots behind first round leader Mitch Farrer of Nova Southeastern as he fired a one-under par 70. In fact, Farrer was the only golfer in the 108 player field to shoot under par in the opening round.
Following the first round of last season's national championships in Hershey, Pa., Crouch, who is a native of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, was sitting in a tie for ninth place after shooting an even-par 71 at the Hershey Country Club.
After shooting a two-under 34 on the front nine, which put Crouch in first place by one shot over Farrer, who teed off in the morning, the two-time First-Team All-Sunshine State Conference performer struggled on the back nine as he opened by recording five straight bogeys on holes 10-14. After those five straight bogeys, Crouch rebounded to shoot the final four holes at even par to finish with a five-over par 39.
Crouch, who is the No. 6 ranked golfer in the latest D-II Golfstat player rankings, isn't the only individual qualifier among the early leaders as Southeastern Oklahoma State's Marcos Sevilla also fired a three-over 74 to stand in that nine-way tie for 16th place. Sevilla shot an even-par 36 on the front nine, before carding a three-over 38 on the back nine.
While Farrer was the only golfer to shoot under par in the first round, seven other golfers shot even-par on the day on the 7,034-yard Meadows Course at Grand Valley State.
Monday's opening round featured two hole-in-ones as USC-Aiken's Kyle Godsman hit a hole-in-one on the par-3 No. 3Â and Barry's Scott Smyers carded a hole-in-one on the par-3 No. 13.
In the team standings, Nova Southeastern holds the first round lead as the Sharks have the top two players atop the leaderboard and carded a three-over 287 to stand four shots in front of second place Chico State (291) and five shots in front of defending Division II National Champion Barry, who shot a 292 in the opening round. Cal State-Monterey Bay and Indiana (Pa.) complete the top five teams on the leaderboard as they shot 300 and 301 respectively in the first round.
Crouch is scheduled to tee off at 8:55 a.m. in Tuesday's second round from the No. 10 tee. Crouch will once again play with Simon Fraser's John Mlikotic and North Alabama's Trent Alexander. Alexander shot a two-over 73 on Monday to stand tied for 10th, while Mlikotic fired a 10-over 81 in the first round to stand tied for 85th place.
Click here for live hole-by-hole scoring of the NCAA Division II National Championships
