The Valparaiso University men’s golf team got off to a strong start at the Mobile Bay Intercollegiate, which began on Sunday at the Magnolia Grove Golf Course in Mobile, Ala. The Beacons are tied for second in a 14-team field, while Caleb VanArragon (Blaine, Minn. / Blaine) and Adam Melliere (Zionsville, Ind. / Zionsville) shared the team lead on the opening day of competition.

How It Happened

• VanArragon carded a 69 (-2), draining four birdies in the opening round. He is part of a tie for third, one stroke behind a tie for medalist honors between Will Troy of Illinois State and Pieter Rossouw of Texas State.
• Melliere carded the best round of his freshman campaign thus far, posting a 69 on Sunday. He joins VanArragon as part of the tie for third in an 80-player field. The rookie drained four opening-round birdies.
• Junior Anthony Delisanti (Sanborn, N.Y. / Niagara Wheatfield) rounded out a collection of three Beacons in the top 15, finishing Day 1 at t-15 after posting an even-par round of 71. He had three birdies to counterbalance one bogey and one double in Round 1.
• As a team, Valpo is even with Illinois State for second place through one round. The top two teams in the Missouri Valley Conference based on the preseason poll both had even par team performances at 284. The Beacons and Redbirds are behind only tournament leader Texas State in a 14-team field.

Thoughts from Head Coach Dave Gring

“Our ball striking was mediocre at best for us today. We just couldn’t turn the corner and start putting together a bunch of birdies. While we had a lot of quality pars, we only made 15 birdies on the day. The team was averaging around 12 out of 18 greens in regulation and 10 out of 15 fairways and that’s just not enough, especially when you add in the proximity to the hole in regulation. We played the Par 3s at four over and the par 5s at four under, which isn’t bad, but not enough to get our scores below par. It was the second time we had seen and played the course, including yesterday’s practice round. We will have more familiarity tomorrow.”

“Adam had the best ball-striking day on the team and played very solid for us in the #5 position. He hit 15 out of 18 greens and 12 out of 14 fairways in regulation. He had terrific birdies on a few of the toughest holes out there, including #8, #11 and #15 and he had four birdies on the day, with three on the back nine. He was even par through 14 holes and birdied two out of his last four holes. Today’s round was a huge boost for the team, especially when we can get that from our fifth man.”

“We have some windy conditions forecasted for tomorrow and a chance of rain on Tuesday. There’s a good chance that we will play more than 18 holes tomorrow to stay in front of the precipitation as much as possible. We played in some pretty decent wind during the practice round, so the guys have a good idea of what to expect.”

Up Next

The Beacons will play the second round of the three-round event on Monday. A link to live scoring is available on ValpoAthletics.com.

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