*Due to overnight storms, Friday tee times have been moved back 4 1/2 hours. Sherwin will now begin his second round at 3:31 PM Eastern (2:31 local).*

LUBBOCK, Texas – FGCU's Jake Sherwin commenced his NCAA Men's Golf Championship Thursday with an opening-round even-par 71 at The Rawls Course as part of the three-round Lubbock Regional hosted by Texas Tech.
 
Sherwin (Fort Myers, Fla./Evangelical Christian HS), who was one of just 45 at-large individual selections in the field, was relatively consistent throughout the day on the extremely long track as he recorded four birdies, four bogeys and 10 pars on the 7,349-yard layout.
 
The junior – FGCU's third such NCAA qualifier in only four years of Division-I postseason eligibility – is only five shots off the individual lead held by David Snyder of Kentucky and Nicolas Platret of Texas-Pan American as both shot rounds of 66 (-5). Sherwin, who is not ranked, capped his first round ahead of three of the nation's top-90 ranked players by Golfstat as Kentucky's Tyler McDaniel (90) shot a 73, Texas A&M's Adria Arnaus (62) carded a 72 and Jacksonville State's Tomasz Anderson (38) signed for a 75.
 
"I played pretty decent today after getting off to a rough start, but that happens," stated Sherwin, who is tied for sixth out of the 10 individuals in the region. "The key is to shake off the poor start and stay positive. I'm looking forward to staying patient and staying positive over the next two rounds. I plan on playing my game and we'll see what my scorecard says at the end of the day."
 
Sherwin is one of 10 individuals in the region vying for a berth in the NCAA Championship finals May 29-June 3 at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla. There are six different regional sites as part of the initial weekend of the championship – three with 10 individuals and 13 teams, and three with five individuals and 14 teams. The low five teams and the low individual not on those teams from each regional will advance to the finals.
 
In reference to Sherwin's poor start, he made a birdie on the 368-yard par-4 1st but gave it right back with a bogey on the 521-yard par-4 2nd. His scorecard remained at level par until consecutive bogeys on the par-4 5th and par-3 6th. A birdie on the par-5, 539-yard 9th moved him back to +1 on the day as he went out in 36.
 
Like he did early on the front side, Sherwin took advantage of a short par 4 early on the back with a birdie on the 369-yard 11th to get back to even par on his round. A string of three-straight pars from 12-14 was snapped in a good way with a birdie on the tough par-4 15th – one of only nine birdies recorded on the day by the field of 75 golfers. However, a bogey on the 239-yard par-3 16th gave that shot back before Sherwin closed the round with pars on the 630-yard par-5 17th and 578-yard par-5 18th.
 
"Jake played pretty solid today," said FGCU head coach Eric Booker. "It was a good first round as he had a little bit of everything happen to him but he hung in there and posted a decent score. He's playing well right now, so we're just looking forward to the next two days."
 
Sherwin will begin his second round on Friday off the 10th tee at 10:01 a.m. local time (11:01 Eastern) alongside fellow individual competitor Arnaus and fellow Atlantic Sun Conference foe Dillon Woods who is competing for North Florida.
 
The Ospreys – who are ranked 23rd in the nation by Golfstat but had no one shoot better than +1 on the first round – earned the A-Sun's automatic berth in the NCAA Championship by winning the A-Sun Tournament. UNF is in last place out of 13 teams in the Lubbock Regional after day one, but are only 12 shots out of 5th – a place it needs to reach by the end of Saturday to advance to the finals.
 
In addition to UNF, the A-Sun has another team in the regional round as Kennesaw State – ranked 24th by Golfstat – received an at-large berth and is taking advantage of it so far as the Owls are in 6th place at the Chapel Hill Regional, only one shot out of 5th. Furthermore, Dawson Armstrong from Lipscomb and Ryan Cornfield from USC Upstate are representing the A-Sun as individuals as well in Chapel Hill. Armstrong shot an opening-round 72 (even) and is four off the lead, while Cornfield shot a first-round 73.
 
Lubbock Regional Individual Scores (Golfstat Ranking, If Applicable)
T-1) Nicolas Platret, UT-Pan American: 66
T-1) #100 David Snyder, Kentucky: 66
3) Greg Yates, Texas A&M: 69
T-4) Matt Mabrey, Tulsa: 70
T-4) #80 Victor Lange, Louisiana Tech: 70
T-6) Jake Sherwin, FGCU: 71
T-6) Martin Simonsen, UTEP: 71
8) #72 Adria Arnaus, Texas A&M: 72
9) #90 Tyler McDaniel, Kentucky: 73
10) #38 Tomasz Anderson, Jacksonville State: 75
 
FOLLOW ALONG
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COACH BOOKER
FGCU is led by coach Eric Booker, a member of the PGA Tour and Web.com Tour (formerly the Nationwide Series) for portions of 17 years from 1990-2007. Booker finished in the top-5 three times in tournaments on the PGA Tour and also played in the U.S. Open and PGA Championship. He played in 62 career events on the PGA Tour, with his best finish being a tie for 3rd at the 1999 Honda Classic.
 
HELP THE CAUSE
FGCU Athletics sponsors events throughout the year to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.