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Chico State Golf at Western New Mexico Invitational

Team Scores:

Round 1: 292 Round 2: 281 Total: 573 (2nd place team)

Top performers on the day:

Justin Wiles: R1: 71 R2: 67 Total: 138 (t-1st overall)

Alistair Docherty: R1: 69 R2: 71 Total: 140 (t-4th overall)

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The Chico State men’s golf team, ranked fourth in the nation, kicked its season off in the desert Monday at the Western New Mexico Invitational.

The Wildcats currently sit in second place of 19 teams after playing 36 holes Monday. The team shot 7-under par as a team on the afternoon round, which is currently the low of the tournament. That low score brought Chico State within two strokes of the leading team, South Mountain Community College.

Justin Wiles made one double bogey, one bogey and nine birdies over 36 holes to finish 6-under par on the day, which was tied for first place in the individual standings.

Close on his heels was fellow junior Alistair Docherty, who held a share of the lead on the back nine of his second round before settling into a tie for fourth place at 4-under par.

Lee Gearhart had to recover from an opening round blunder, when he shot 7-over par after getting stuck in the desert on the par-4 tenth hole. Gearhart quickly made birdie on his next hole and finished the round 4-over par.

Posting a 2-under par 70 in the afternoon round, Gearhart heads into the final round tied for 25th at 2-over par.

Rounding out the Wildcat team and making their collegiate debuts were freshman David Na and Justin Nuval.

Na stands at 5-over par which is good for a share of 46th place after posting a 1-over par in his second round. Nuval shot matching 7-over par 79’s to put himself into a tie for 80th heading into tomorrow’s final two roud

Kevin Lucena can be reached at [email protected] or @klucena824 on Twitter.