Valparaiso University men’s golf fifth-year senior Caleb VanArragon (Blaine, Minn. / Blaine) golfed the first round of the NCAA West Lafayette Regional on Tuesday, hosted by Purdue at the par-72, 7461-yard Kampen Course in West Lafayette, Ind. He posted a first-round score of 74 (+2), tied for 28^th in a 75-golfer field.

“Caleb showed a lot of poise and patience today,” head coach Dave Gring said. “The golf course is a tremendous test and it doesn’t allow missed shots – you’re going to pay for those. It got windy during the round, getting up to 15–20 mph. Even though he struggled with his ball striking, hitting only five fairways and seven greens in regulation, he absolutely grinded with his short game. He got up and down seven of 11 times and only had 26 putts. Caleb is used to hitting a lot of greens and giving himself birdie opportunities. Today, it was survival of the fittest and just saving par.”

VanArragon birdied Hole 4 and Hole 16, but did have two bogeys and one double bogey. He will tee off the second round on Tuesday at 8:53 a.m. CT / 9:53 a.m. ET starting on Hole 1. A link to live scoring via GolfStat is available on ValpoAthletics.com.

“I thought that Caleb made a lot of very good decisions today, both with his target lines off the tee boxes to iron selections hitting into the greens,” Gring said. “He just missed the fairway on the ninth hole and that created a bit of a domino effect, leading to the double bogey. All four of the Par 3s were very challenging today, playing away from the water hazard on each one of them. Caleb wasn’t able to get up and down on two of them and that led to the other two bogeys. He made birdies on two of the four Par 5s and just missed birdie on the other two. We still have a lot of golf to play and we’re looking forward to the second round tomorrow.”