Carson Bertagnole shot 5-under-par 67 Monday to lead North Carolina into second place, only two strokes behind host Texas A&M in the NCAA Regional at Traditions Club in Bryan, Texas.
The Tar Heels, with all five players shooting par or better on the 7,013-yard course, shot 10-under 278, two ahead of Texas Christian, three on top of Texas and four up on Tennessee in the 54-hole tournament.
The top five teams in each of the six, 14-team regionals will qualify for the national tournament at Carlsbad, California, with the top individual from a non-qualifying team. Chattanooga is sixth, eight behind UNC.
William Love shot 7-under 65 at The Gallery Golf Club in Marana, Arizona, to share second for Duke, which is in fifth, five shots behind leader Arizona.
Duke’s 6-under 282 was one behind Arkansas State and two ahead of sixth-place Alabama. Oklahoma State was second, followed by LSU.
N.C. State shot 287, nine shots from a qualifying spot. Rylan Shim led the Wolfpack with 69 and Markus Varjan shot 72.
Nicholas Prieto birdied the first two holes then eagled No. 17 to shoot 4-under 67 at Bermuda Run East to spark host Wake Forest into a tie for third place after the first round of the Winston-Salem Regional.
The Demon Deacons shot 6-under 278 as a team, tying Southern Cal, Ole Miss and Mississippi State — seven strokes behind leader Virginia and five back from Pepperdine. Kentucky is another two shots off the pace.The top five teams after 54 holes on the 7,013-yard course will qualify for the national tournament at Carlsbad, California, with the top individual from a non-qualifying team.
Prieto trails Virginia’s Ben James and two Pepperdine players in the medalist race. Other Wake scores were Jakob Melin, Lorenzo Rodriguez with 70, Maddux Cook with 71 and Tom Haberer with 72. Tyler Jones of Western Carolina, playing as an individual, shot 67. Kelvin Hernandez of UNC Greensboro, who qualified for the national tourney last year, shot 72.
Justin Matthews shot 4-under 67 in Corvallis, Oregon, to tie for second and power Charlotte into a tie for fifth at 280 in a crowded field led by Purdue.
