No. 1 at Sky Creek Ranch Golf Club
(Sky Creek Ranch Golf Club Photo)

Irving’s Mike Peck and Stephen Love didn’t waste much time getting into red figures for the 2017 edition of the North Four-Ball. The duo poured in three birdies in the first five holes including a birdie on the 442 yard, second, which only featured three on the day.

They parred their way in to complete the front nine when they finally gave one back to the field with Love’s putt for par lipped out. Stephen quickly bounced back though with a birdie on the 12th. The pair each added another birdie on the 15th and 16th for Love and Peck respectfully.

In the group of three trailing Peck and Love are the 2016 North Four-Ball Champions, Brad Gibson and Zach Atkinson, the pair of Josh Irving and Will Osbourne and the duo of Brian Hatter and Thomas Kulcak.

Gibson, Plano, and Atkinson, Colleyville, too started quickly with birdies on the first two holes and another on the fourth. Losing a shot on the fifth and eighth, they turned at one-under-par. Feeding off the momentum of Love and Peck in the same pairing group, they duo matched their birdies on the 12th, 15th and 16th to close their round at four-under, 68.

Brian Hatterr, Little Elm, and Thomas Kulcak, Plano, started on the tenth hole and birdie it, which was only one of three on the entire day. They added another birdie on the 12th before they surrendered their first stroke on the 13th. Following two pars, Kulcak closed their first nine holes in style with three straight birdies. They traded birdies for bogeys equally on their last nine to finish at four-under-par.

For Josh Irving, Dallas, and Will Osbourne, Fort Worth, it was a slower start in comparison to the others near the top of the leaderboard. The U.S. Four-Ball bound team parred their first eight holes until finally seeing one drop in for birdie on the par five, eighteenth. A bogey followed by a par on the third and fourth hole saw them at even par before they caught some fire. Four straight birdies on holes five through eight vaulted them into a tie for second and into the penultimate tee time.

Players braced the elements during the first round of the North Four-Ball as the temperature barely got above 40 degrees for the starting times. Thirteen of the forty teams saw themselves get to red numbers at the conclusion of their round which ultimately left them as many as four shots behind leaders Mike Peck and Stephen Love.

The second and final round of the North Four-Ball will begin at 8:00 am off the 1st and 10th tee. With such a tight leaderboard, the first championship of the North Regional Series should be set up for a great finish.

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