COTO DE CAZA, Calif. – The University of San Francisco men's golf team sits in first after 18 holes of the inaugural Orange Country Invitational hosted by UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton. Play was suspended midway through the second round at the par-72 Coto de Caza South Course.
 
The Dons finished the first 18 holes with a 3-over 291 – they are six strokes ahead of UC San Diego on the team leaderboard.  USF boasted a strong opening round. It was a slow start—the Dons were in last place after two holes, then came roaring back to lead the tournament for the rest of the day.
 
As a team, San Francisco carded 19 birdies in the opening round, which led the field.  USF was under par as a team on the par-3 and par-5 holes.
 
The Dons boasted a three-way tie at fifth with Tim Widing, Matthew Anderson, and Alex Chin all finishing with a 1-under 71. 
 
Anderson picked up where he left off from a strong fall season.  He finished the front-9 with a three under thanks to birdies on three, six, and eight.  On the back, a double on 13 and a bogey on 14 had him back to even par until he wrapped up the round with a birdie on the par-5 18^th. 
 
For Anderson, this is his sixth round at par or better in 2019-20.  He continued his terrific play in the opening round, boasting an average score of 71.8 in opening rounds this season.
 
Widing was 1-over on the front nine. Birdies on three and six were sandwiched by bogeys on two seven and nine. On the back-9 he was very strong, carding birdies on 12, 14, and 17. The lone blemish on the back was a bogey on 15.  Widing's 1-under 71 is his fifth round under par, and marks the third consecutive tournament he has opened up play under par.
 
Chin opened play 1-under on the front after carding birdies on three, five, and eight.  On the back he was even par.  After opening with a birdie on 11, he recorded a bogey on 12 and a double bogey on 14 but. At 1-over through 13 holes, he finished strong with birdies on 16 and 18 to record his second round at par or better this season.
 
Toby Briggs and Soren Lind finished fourth and fifth, respectively, for the Dons. Each recorded a pair of birdies.  Briggs finished tied for 44^th overall with a 6-over 78, while Lind finished tied for 59^th with a 7-over 79.
 
After the opening round, Cal State Fullerton's Derek Castillo and Cal Poly's Austin Liu are tied for first with twin scores of 4-under 68.
 
Round two will resume tomorrow morning, with the third and final round immediately following. Fans can get up to the minute results at Golfstat.com.