Golf sits seventh after round one in Puerto Rico

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RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico – Graduate student Hunter Eichhorn shot a 4-under 68 on Sunday to pace the Marquette University men's golf team in the opening round of the Puerto Rico Classic at Grand Reserve Country Club.

Eichhorn is tied for 10th, while the Golden Eagles are seventh as a team with a 11-under 277, just one stroke behind South Carolina, East Tennessee State and Tennessee who are all tied in fourth. All six MU golfers fired rounds of even-par-or-better on Sunday, including Bhoom Sima-Aree who is playing as an individual.

In total, the Marquette contingent fired 22 birdies in the first round, offset by nine bogeys and no doubles.

Eichhorn started his round on the par-3 11th and sat at 5-under after a birdie on the par-5 fifth hole. He bogeyed the sixth hole drop a stroke and currently sits six strokes behind Oklahoma's Patrick Welch who fired a 10-under 62 with eight birdies and an eagle on the par-5 18th.

Redshirt junior Tyler Leach sits one stroke behind Eichhorn with a 3-under 69, while Max Lyons, Nicolás Evangelio and Sima-Aree shot 2-under 70s. Leach is tied for 22nd, while Lyons, Evangelio and Sima-Aree are tied for 34th.

Aidan Lafferty shot an even-par 72 and is tied for 60th.

The second round is set to begin at 6:30 a.m. Central time on Monday with a shotgun start. MU's lineup will go off holes 8-10, while Sima-Aree begins his round on the 16th hole.

Eichhorn owns a best finish of 17th in the event (+3, 216) in 2018 with a 54-hole low score in 2019 of a 1-under 215 (T21). He has recorded individual rounds of 2-under par in each of the three Puerto Rico Classics in which he has participated.

Lafferty, then a freshman, was MU's low-man in the event in 2020, recording a 4-under-par 212 that included three rounds of par-or-better with 2-under 70s in both the first and final rounds. He was named the BIG EAST Conference Male Golfer of the Week on Feb. 20, 2020 for that performance.

The par-72 course plays at 7,506 yards and the individual medalist of the event will receive an invitation to the PGA Tour's Puerto Rico Open from March 3-6.

Marquette tied with Iowa for 10th place at 2-over par in its most recent appearance in the Puerto Rico Classic in 2020, the last event the Golden Eagles competed in before COVID shut down the rest of the season. Last year's event was canceled due to the on-going pandemic.

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