On the way to the Pacific Invitational Monday morning, one of Kansas State’s players pointed out, “See all these cars. Those are people going to work. We’re going to work, and we’re playing golf.”

And play golf, to be sure, is what coach Tim Norris’ Kansas State Wildcats did en route to the opening-round lead of The Stockton Sports Commission Pacific Invitational, presented by Ron Berberian, Bank of Agriculture & Commerce and Berberian European Motors,

Kansas State, with four of five players shooting under 70, grabbed a two-shot lead over Marquette at 15-under par. Tied for third are No.-1 ranked UNC Charlotte and upstart UC Davis at 10-under par in the 14-team event at Brookside Golf and Country Club. Host Pacific is in 13th at one under par, 14 shots off the pace.

“It was a good first round for us,” said Norris, who plays two freshmen, two sophomore and a junior. “We’ve played in five tournaments already this fall and our best finish was second. If our guys play good, we can be in this at the end.”

Medalist honors on Day I—each with a six-under par 66—went to Nick Delio, a freshman from Cal State-Northridge, and Stefan Wiedergruen, a junior from Charlotte. Each had showcase rounds. Delio putted for eagles on all five of Brookside’s par-5s and Wiedergruen ran off four consecutive birdies on Nos. 3-4-5-6.

Delio didn’t make any eagle putts, but said this of Brookside’s 6,777-yard course, “there’s a lot of birdie opportunities out there.” Wiederegruen, meanwhile, wanted to talk about the birdie he missed on No. 2 that would have made the string five in a row. “It was an easy 15-foot putt that I should have made. Overall, the course played awesome.”

In the first few hours after an 8 a.m. start, there were seven different teams in the top spot. At one time, Marquette held a five stroke lead.

Low round for the host Pacific Tigers was Charlie Van Sicklen, a junior from Lodi. Said Pacific Coach Brandon Goethals, “Charlie had a solid round, but we just didn’t execute and that sometimes happens.”

For team and top 10 individual scores, visit pacificinviational.com. For a list of all scores, visit
www.golfstat.com.