SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Jose Suryadinata is tied for first and three Vandals are in the top five as the Idaho Men's Golf team owns a one-stroke lead after one day at the Big Sky Conference Championship in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Fast greens and a constant breeze made for tough conditions on the day, but Suryadinata battled through. He carded a birdie on the second hole before scoring eight consecutive pars. He added another birdie on 12 but finished with two bogeys in the final three holes.

Colt Sherrell and Tommy McKenzie finished three-over 73 to tie for fifth place. Sherrell birdied four holed in the front nine to overcome a triple bogey on the second hole. He was one-over on the front and two-over on the back.

McKenzie was even through 11 with a pair of birdies on the front nine.

"Jose played a really solid round of golf today," coach David Nuhn said. "He was very patient, had a lot of good shots and hit a lot of greens. Colt battled hard, I was really proud of him for shaking off some early unfortunate things and battling back quick on that front nine. Tommy coming out of the gates for his first conference championship and he's going to be right there near the top. I am really proud of him as a freshman. He is the Freshman of the Year in the conference showing why."

Jack Plaster is tied for 20th after the first round with a score of 76. T.J. Patterson is 34th with a score of 83.

Idaho finished with a team score of 293, one stroke ahead of Sacramento State's 294. Southern Utah is third at 296 and two schools are tied for fourth at 298.

The Vandals tee off for the second round of the three-round tournament tomorrow at 7 a.m.

"Tomorrow is a new opportunity for us," Nuhn said. "We're going be in a good spot it looks like but you know teams are going to improve tomorrow and we need to be one of those teams that does it."

A live leaderboard is available via Golfstat.

ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
Colt Sherrell and Jose Suryadinata earned Second-Team All-Conference honors and Tommy McKenzie was named the Big Sky Freshman of the Year.

The honors are determined by scoring average and golf rankings. Mckenzie is the third Vandal to earn Freshman of the Year honors since Idaho returned to the Big Sky Conference, including Suryadinata (2021) and Sherrell (2019).