AUSTIN, Texas — UTSA senior Hunter Bott battled through a weather delay of approximately three hours to post a 77 on the opening day of the NCAA Austin Regional, which got underway on Monday at UT Golf Club (par 71/7,399 yards).
Bott has a share of 66th place through the first round of the three-day, 54-hole tournament that opened NCAA postseason play for the Montgomery, Texas, native.
Starting on No. 1, Bott reeled off four straight pars before settling for a bogey on the 461-yard, par-4 fifth hole. The two-time all-conference selection then posted two more pars before play was suspended around noon due to lightning in the area.
When play resumed at 3 p.m., Bott registered a par on the 237-yard, par-3 eighth before closing the front nine with an eight on the 605-yard, par-5 ninth to give him a 39 on that side.
On the back, Bott bounced back from three consecutive bogeys with back-to-back birdies. He wrote down a three on the 375-yard 13th and then recorded a four on the 562-yard 14th to move back to 5-over par for the day. Following a bogey on No. 16, he logged three pars in a row to finish off a 2-over 38 on the back.
Bott, the No. 3 seed among 10 individuals, is one of six players knotted at 6-over par in the field that is paced by six golfers who fired a 4-under 68 on Monday.
In the team standings, Texas tops the 13-team field at 11-under par, followed by Notre Dame (-9) and Tennessee (-8).
The top five teams (30 teams total) and the low individual not on an advancing team (six individuals total) from each of the six regional sites will advance to play in the NCAA Championship on May 24-29 at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California.
The second round is slated for Tuesday and Bott will tee off at 10:04 a.m. from No. 1.
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