SILVIS, Ill. -- Led by senior Andre Becerra, the Bellevue University men's golf team sits in sixth place after the opening round of play at the NAIA Men's Golf National Championship being played at the 6,732-yard, par-71 TPC at Deere Run.
As a team, the Bruins are 14-over par after Tuesday's first round, shooting a team score of 298. Point (Ga.) leads the field at 6-over par (290). Only nine strokes separate the top seven teams in the tournament.
Becerra is currently in a tie for fifth after firing an even-par 71 in Tuesday's opening round. Becerra's round was highlighted by collecting six birdies and nine pars.
Becerra is two strokes out of the tournament lead. There is a four-way tie for first at 2-under par between Point's Ruan Pretorius, Morningside's Corey Matthey, William Woods' Logan Smith, and Keiser's Javier Neira Garcia.
Floris-Jan Oosterhof is tied for 28th place in the 156-player field at 3-over par. He recorded four birdies and eight pars on the day.
Hugo Ronnberg is 4-over for the tournament and tied for 40th place. He registered two birdies and 11 pars in the first round.
Rodrigo Navarrete carded a 7-over 78 and had one birdie and 13 pars on Tuesday. He is currently tied for 81st place.
Rounding out the day for the Bruins was Alex Zillig, who shot an 8-over par 79. Zillig collected one birdie and nine pars on the day.
The Bruins will tee off at 12:30 p.m. in Wednesday's second round of the 72-hole tournament.
