July 16, 2008

FINDLAY, Ohio - Recently hired head coach Chris Hale knew he inherited a talented group of golfers and after their performance at the 102nd Ohio Amateur Championship, now he's even more impressed.

Senior Mitch Custenborder and sophomore Zach Glassman each shot a first round 72 at a difficult Findlay Country Club course highlighted by small, undulating, fast and firm greens.

Incoming freshman Michael Oberschmidt was close behind with a 75 and the 2008 Atlantic 10 Player of the Year Rob Chappell followed with a 77.

Sophomore Chris Woeste played well for most of the first round but had trouble with four holes. However, a strong second round will keep him in the mix to make the cut.

Course conditions proved to be unfavorable for the field. The rough around the entire course reached four inches at times and made shots to the difficult greens even harder.

Hale said all the players believe an under par score for round two is in their future and they are all striking the ball extremely well.

"I feel a score of 154 might be the cut line but conditions tomorrow can affect that in either way," Hale said. "However, we feel good about the chances of having all five players make the cut. Our goal for this year in our intercollegiate tournaments is to always shoot 296 or better and today we did just that."

The Findlay Country Club hosts 144 of the top golfers in the state. The field will be cut to the top 60 golfers (plus ties) after two rounds. The top 40 after Thursday's third round advance to Friday's final round of play.