CARLSBAD, Calif. – The Purdue men’s golf team started slow, but played better on its back nine in round one of the NCAA National Championships held at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California.
The Boilermakers shot an 8-over par 294 to finish day one in a tie for 22nd, 16 shots behind leader UCLA (-8), but just four shots out of 15th place. Auburn is in second place at 4-under par, while Pepperdine is in third place at 3-under par.
The teams play 54 holes through Sunday, when the top 15 teams advance to play a fourth round on Monday for the right to qualify for match play.
Georgia, and Tennessee are tied for 15th at 4-over par, followed by Stanford in 17th place (+5), Chattanooga and Louisville in 18th place (+6) and Arkansas State and Oklahoma State in 20th position (+7). The Boilermakers are tied with BYU in 22nd place, just four shots out of 15th place and only eight shots out of the top 10.
Purdue’s 294 equaled its lowest NCAA Championships round since 2014, but the Boilermakers could be in a much-better position entering round two. Purdue posted the worst par-5 combined score among the 30 teams in the field at a combined 9-over par. All four of Purdue’s double-bogeys or worse came on par-5’s.
On the flipside, Purdue finished day one sixth in par-3 scoring (-1) and eighth in par-4 scoring (+4). A score of even just 2-over par on par-5’s (which would rank 18th in the field), would have moved the Boilermakers into 12th place after 18 holes.
Nonetheless, Purdue gave itself a shot to advance after round one. A year ago, Purdue was in 30th place at 19-over par after 18 holes and 26th after 36 holes. In 2024, the Boilermakers were also 30th after the first and second rounds in 2024.
A pair of England natives, Sam Easterbrook and Jenson Forrester, led Purdue in round one, both shooting rounds of even-par 72, good for 36th place.
Easterbrook had a consistent day, posting two birdies, two bogeys and 14 pars en route to his 24th round this season of even-par or better – now tied for the most in school history. Easterbrook made par on his first eight holes, birdied No. 9 before bogeys on 11 and 12 dropped him to 1-over par. He would birdie the par-3 16th and play even par the rest of the way for an opening-round 72.
Forrester had a whirlwind day en route to his 72. He birdied his first hole, before bogeying No. 4 to drop to even par. A double-bogey on hole six moved him to 2-over par, where he made the turn after a birdie-bogey stretch on holes 8 and 9. He then birdied 10 and 11 to get to even-par, but bogeyed 14 to drop to 1-over par, then turned around and birdied 15 for his 72.
Will Harvey, Supapon Amornchaichan and Kentaro Nanayama are all tied for 102nd at 4-over par 76. The trio combined for seven birdies, but posted three of the four scores of double-bogey or worse to end their rounds at 4-over par.
Purdue will tee off round two on Saturday at 4:07 to 4:51 p.m. ET, off hole 10, being paired with Arkansas State and Mississippi State.