May 30, 2007

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Sophomore Zach Sucher recorded three birdies and just one bogey on his way to a two-under par 68 during the opening 18 holes of the 2007 NCAA Men's Golf National Championship on Wednesday. Sucher will enter Thursday's second round of the 72-hole event, four strokes off the overall lead and in a tie with eight other golfers for sixth overall.

"I'm very happy with my score and the way I played," Sucher said. "The key to this course is keeping the ball in the fairways and I did that for most of the round. My first five holes I missed the fairway and still went one-under, so that gave me a lot of confidence. Even though I played well, I know there is a lot of room for improvement (Thursday)."

Sucher, who began the round on the No. 10 hole, wasted no time getting in the red, as he birdied the 400-yard par four 11th hole. The Second-Team All-Conference USA honoree would go one to par eight his opening nine holes to finish his front nine with a one-under 34.

He said the key to his entire round came on his sixth hole, a 634-yard par five, when he hit his drive and second shot in the deep rough, but managed to save par.

"I started that hole with a bad drive and left my second shot about 40-50 yards short and in deep rough," Sucher said. "But I was still able to save par and that is what really gave me confidence and got me going."

The Mobile, Ala. native would go on to record two birdies over the next five holes, including two of his first three in his back nine to drop to three under for the day. Sucher would keep that score until a bogey on the 348-yard par four fifth hole, which dropped him back to two-under par. Sucher would end his round by parring each of the four remaining holes on the par 70, 6,817-yard Golden Horseshoe Golf Club course.

Stanford's Rob Grube, who is the nation's 14th-ranked golfer entering the championships, carded an impressive six-under par 64 to take a two stroke lead over Florida's Tim McKenney (66). The country's No. 1 ranked golfer, Niklas Lemke of Arizona State, is one stroke back of Sucher, in a tie for 15th overall with a 69.

Sucher is one of six individuals from around the country to have made it to the national championship event as an individual. The top two finishers in each of the three Regionals whose team did not make the field, qualified for an individual spot. He earned his spot when he tied for eighth overall with a 215 (73-73-69) at the NCAA East Regional on May 17-19.

Sucher will tee off the second round at 2:05 p.m. ET on the No. 1 hole, and will be in a group with a pair of individual qualifiers in Tim Streng of Western Illinois and Chance Pipitone of Penn.