LITCHFIELD PARK, Ariz. –
Ryan Shields Vega (Fort Myers, Fla./Cypress Lake) fired a 3-under-par 69 and finds himself in a three-way tie for the lead after Monday's opening round of the Pacific West Conference Men's Golf Championship at the par-72, 7,025-yard Wigwam Golf Course.
As a whole, the Chaminade University men's golf team is sixth overall after a first round 309 but is just 16 shots behind University of Hawai'i Hilo, which leads the team standings.
Shields Vega, a freshman, played bogey-free golf for most of the way and was at 2-under at the turn. Birdies at 14 and 16 put him at 4-under which momentarily put him alone at the top of the leaderboard. However a bogey on 17 put him back with UH Hilo's Keith Ng and Hawai'i Pacific University's Keita Okada who all share the lead.
Shield Vega's impressive round is just one shot off the school record of 68 set by Jarin Harada in April 2015 and
Jeren Nishimoto in October 2018. His opening round score is also the lowest round by a Silversword golfer at the conference championships, surpassing
Desmond Mello's 70 in the 2019 tournament.
Seven Birks (Houston/IMG Academy) shot a 6-over 78, putting him in a tie for 19th place overall while
Blake Buonopane (Rowley, Mass./St. John's Prep) follows at 80.
Schuyler Peterson (Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei) shot a first round 82 while
Colby Gunderson (Kaneohe, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Castle), playing in his final PacWest Championship, carded an 83.
Round 2 of the PacWest Championship gets underway at 9 a.m. Pacific time with Gunderson teeing off. Shields Vega will tee off 40 minutes later.
