Rams end 1st day in 2nd at Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate

Ryan Loberger

The Colorado State University men’s golf team set out to divide and conquer Monday, splitting up to play in two separate tournaments: one at home in Colorado, the other down south in Alabama. 

AJ Ott, Davis Bryant, Parathakorn Suyasri, Oscar Teiffel and Jack Ainscough hit the road for the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate down in Alabama. Akedanai Ponghathaikul and Andrew Lafferty made the short trek down I-25 to participate in the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational. The two played as part of the individual field, hosted by the University of Colorado at Boulder. 

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As day one drew to a close, Lafferty and Ponghathaikul found themselves near the bottom of the leaderboard. Lafferty ended his day tied for 23rd place at 1-under par, and Ponghathaikul ended his tied for 53 at 5-over-par. 

Down south, the Rams found themselves up against a field that featured two ranked teams: No. 8 Auburn University and No. 21 Alabama. They played through some light rain and overcast weather at the Old Overton Club located in Vestavia Hills, Alabama. The Rams finished atop the leaderboard after the first round at 5-under par with a 275 score.

Golfer stands at ball
Parathakorn Suyasri stands at the ball right before teeing off on the 10th hole of the Ram Masters Invitational. (Luke Bourland | Collegian)

Suyasri led the way for the Rams, shooting 5-under par in the first round and following it up with 3-under par in the second round to place atop the individual leaderboard in a tie for first place. Following Suyasri, the Rams improved from the first round, shooting 11-under par to finish off the first day in second place at 16-under par. 

CSU did most of their damage on the par-4 holes, leading the field at 16-under par with a 3.87 average and collecting 47 birdies through the first two rounds. 

The Rams will play their last round tomorrow two strokes behind BYU at 16-under par, while holding a seven shot lead over No. 8 Auburn at 11-under par. 

Ryan Loberger can be reached at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @LobergerRyan.