Oregon's Norman Xiong
(Oregon Athletics Photo)
PALM DESERT, CA (February 17, 2017) -- Well it hasn't taking long for the newest Oregon Duck to fit right in. Freshman and early enrollee Norman Xiong fired an opening day 5-under 67 on Friday to help the defending NCAA Champions move into first place at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate hosted by the Classic Club. Oregon, the
newly minted No. 12 team in the country, is currently 6-under and seven-strokes clear of second place TCU.
Xiong, the medalist leader at 5-under, graduated early from Temescal Canyon High School in Canyon Lake, CA and moved to campus just after the new year. He made his Oregon debut at the Arizona Intercollegiate where he placed fourth and then just a short time later he picked up a tied for seventh finish at the Amer Ari Invitational.
Beginning his day on No. 1 Xiong rolled out of the gates with a bogey-free 3-under 33. Looking to continue the momentum on the back side Xiong slipped up with the first his two second nine bogeys on the 10th. However, there was more then enough bounce back in Xiong on this day, as he countered the bogeys with five birdies, including three in a row from Nos. 12-14.
Heading into day two, Xiong is ahead of TCU's Stefano Mazzoli, Kansas' Charlie Hillier and Colorado's Spencer Painton by two-stokes as the group shares second place at 3-under. Three more players are a shot further back in a fifth place tie.
Among that fifth place group is Oregon sophomore Edwin Yi who turned in the second best round of the day for the Ducks with a 2-under 70 that leaves him just three behind Xiong. Senior Wyndham Clark didn't have his best day for much of the round but a final hole eagle lifted him to even-par for the round and into a tie for 11th place.
Oregon is in search of their second when of the season after breaking through in January at the Arizona Intercollegiate.
Behind Oregon and TCU in the team standings is third place No. 24 Colorado (+3), fourth place No. 7 Texas Tech (+3) while Kansas (+5) and Cal State Fullerton (+5) share fifth.
ABOUT THE Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate
54-hole men's college tournament hosted by the
University of Wyoming. Team (best four scores out
of
five players) and individual competitions.
View Complete Tournament Information