University of Houston Athletics
University of Houston
Conference USA Championship
Shivers Leads Golf During First Day of C-USA Championship
4/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
April 19, 2009
Conference USA Championship First-Day Results (April 19, 2009) in PDF Format 
SORRENTO, Fla. - Senior captain Brady Shivers fired a 3-under-par 69 Sunday to lead the University of Houston golf team during the first day of the 2009 Conference USA Championship at RedTail Golf Club.
With his first-round total, the Seminole, Texas, native bettered his previous season-best round by two strokes and was one stroke away from tying his career best at UH.
Shivers was consistent throughout Sunday's first round and started the day on a positive note with a birdie on the par-five second hold. Although he bogeyed the fifth hole, he regained that stroke on the par-four ninth hole with another birdie.
Shivers played bogey-free golf during the back nine, tallying birdies on the 13th and 15th holes.
The Cougars stood in a tie with UTEP for sixth place with a first-day total of 2-over-par 290. Host UCF posted the lowest first-round team score at 9-under-par 279 with SMU five strokes back at 284. UAB (286), East Carolina (289) and Memphis (289) rounded out the top-five team leaders.
Tulsa (291), Rice (292), Southern Miss (301) and Marshall (302) completed the team leaderboard.
With his performance, Shivers stood in a tie for third place with Memphis' Jack Belote, UCF's Simon Ward and Rice's Michael Whitehead. UCF's Blayne Barber and UAB's Zack Sucher each fired a 68 Sunday to stand atop the individual leaderboard.
Sophomore Matt Eschenburg, competing during his first season with the Cougars, also was impressive, posting a 2-under-par 70, to tie four other players for seventh place. Eschenburg, a native of The Woodlands, Texas, recorded on his first eight holes to start the day before finishing the front nine with a birdie on the ninth hole.
Although he bogeyed the par-three 11th hole, he followed that with back-to-back birdies and answered another bogey on the 16th hole with a birdie on the par-five 17th hole.
Eschenburg's first-round score tied his UH career-low round, set during the final round of the Mean Green Classic (Sept. 9, 2008) and the first round of the Administaff Augusta State Invitational (April 5, 2009).
Other Cougars in action were junior Jackie Lindsey (75, t-36th), senior captain Ben Moser (76, t-41st) and sophomore Clark Mitzner (79, 52nd)
The 54-hole tournament continues at 7:30 a.m. (CDT), Monday with the second round. The three-day event wraps up with the final 18 holes Tuesday morning.
The winner of the tournament receives the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals.
Live scoring will be available at GolfStat.com.
Players Mentioned
