PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — Led by a trio of Roadrunners in a tie for 11th place, UTSA is in second after the first round of the Vaqueros Intercollegiate, which got underway on Sunday at Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club (par 72/6,701 yards).
David Martinez, Logan Vargas and Logan Zurn each carded a 1-over-par 73 to grab a share of 11th place in the individual standings. They share that spot with three other players, five shots off the pace of 4-under par set by ULM’s Louis Anceaux.
Meanwhile, the Roadrunners registered a 296 in the opening round to settle into runner-up position, three shots back of No. 16-ranked SMU. UTSA is one shot ahead of North Texas and Abilene Christian and two in front of UTEP in the top five of the 15-team field.
Martinez began his day on No. 6 and wrote down four consecutive birdies before settling for back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 10-11. The freshman from Houston then strung together three more pars and a bogey before circling his number on back-to-back holes, the 372-yard, par-4 16th and the 177-yard, par-3 17th. He closed his round with six consecutive pars while matching his season-best score from the Fallen Oak Collegiate Invitational last October.
Zurn also started his round on the sixth hole and promptly followed a par with a birdie on the 547-yard, par-5 seventh. The Grapevine, Texas native later countered a bogey on the 11th with a three on the 283-yard, par-4 13th. He also birdied the 548-yard, par-5 18th to help offset a double bogey on the 16th.
After opening with a par on No. 7, Vargas logged back-to-back birdies on Nos. 8-9 to get to 2-under for the day. The Lubbock native bounced back from a five-hole stretch that included three bogeys and a double by posting birdies on the 17th and 18th holes. He remained at 1-over for the round, concluding his day with six straight pars.
Brayden Bare provided the other counting score for UTSA on Sunday with a 77 that featured a birdied on the 489-yard, par-5 fifth. The redshirt sophomore out of Waco has a share of 40th place with 36 holes remaining.
Kaelen Dulany rounds out the UTSA lineup in a tie for 48th with a 78 that was highlighted by four birdies, while Walker Franklin, who is playing as an individual, matched Bare with a 77 that included five birdies.
The second round is scheduled for a 6:30 a.m. Central time shotgun start on Monday.
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