Rice Second After Opening Round

Monday, November 3

Stockton, Calif.

All Day

Rice University

Brookside Country Club

Rice freshman Michael Whitehead shot a 73 on Saturday and moved up into a tie for 33rd heading into Sunday's final round of the River Landing Intercollegiate.

11/3/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf

Nov. 3, 2008

Pacific Invitational Live Scoring

STOCKTON, Calif. - Rice had four members of its five-player team birdie the 18th hole and the Owls flew to second place after the first round of the Stockton Sports Commission Pacific Invitational Monday.

Rice finished with a one-under par round of 283 and is just four strokes back of first-round leader Fresno State. The Owls lead the balance of the 12-team field including two schools ranked in the Top 50.

Rice is one stroke ahead of Oregon, which is currently third, and has a two-stroke lead over BYU and No. 49 Kansas State.

"It was a fun round," said Rice coach Drew Scott. "The guys played really well."

With the passing of Dr. Jim Castañeda, the university' Faculty Representative to the NCAA and the Owls' former golf coach (1983-1998), the Rice team is wearing black ribbons on their hats in his memory.

"Our team is still suffering from the loss of Jim Castañeda," Scott said. "We are definitely thinking about him all the time."

Christopher Brown, Michael Buttacavoli, Kyle Kelley and Michael Whitehead all birdied the par-five, 18th hole.

Whitehead closed out his round just like he started the back nine at Brookside Country Club, with a birdie. He finished the day with a two-under par 69 and is in a four-way tie for second, three strokes behind first-round leader Grant Doverspike of Fresno State.

Buttacavoli rebounded for a double-bogey at the par-three 14th hole to birdie the final two par-fives (16th and 18th holes). With the finish, Buttacavoli is tied for sixth after an opening-round one-under par 70. A 10-player logjam share sixth.

Both Brown and Robert Burrow shot one-over par 72s and share a tie for 20th. Brown eagled the 10th hole to get back to par and after consecutive bogeys on 15 and 16, closed out with a birdie on 18.

Kelley, who did not figure in the team scoring Monday, shot a four-over par 75 but rebounded from a long round to birdie 16 and 18.

Rice will begin teeing off the first hole at 11:18 Central Time Tuesday for the second round and will be playing with Fresno State and Oregon. Live statistics will be available at Golfstat.com. The tournament wraps up with the final 18 holes Wednesday.