Krafft Tied for Lead After 18 Holes at The Prestige

LA QUINTA, Calif. – Aiden Krafft fired a 5-under 66 to open play at The Prestige on Monday and will enter Tuesday's second round in a tie atop the leaderboard.

Krafft carded his fourth-straight round under 70 and finds himself tied with Kansas State's Kobe Valociek and North Carolina's David Ford in first place after 18 holes at the Greg Norman Course at PGA WEST. The junior talliedseven birdies – tied for the most in the field – en route to his second-lowest score of the season and is one of three Ducks in the top 25.

Oregon sits in a tie for fourth place with a 2-under 282 heading into the second round, seven strokes back of #6 North Carolina for the lead. After a tightly-contested opening round, 10 teams sit between 3 under and even par.

How It Happened
Krafft bogeyed his first and last holes of the day, but those were the lone blemishes on his scorecard. The junior carded back-to-back birdies on Nos. 3 and 4 before ending the front 9 with his third birdie of the day. After a par on the par-4 10th, Krafft rattled off four birdies in his next six holes to climb to the top of the leaderboard.

Eric Doyle and Jay Gould-Healy join Krafft in the top 25 after the opening round. Doyle continued to swing a hot club after his career-low 199 at the Amer Ari Intercollegiate earlier this month, finishing with a 2-under 69 to open play in his home state. The senior bogeyed his first two holes but brought himself up to even with a pair of birdies before the turn. He carded four more birdies on the back nine to pair with two bogeys and sits in a tie for 14th place heading into the second round.

Gould-Healy sits one stroke back of Doyle, tied for 24th at 1 under. The junior was the Ducks' most consistent performer of the day, carding a team-high 13 pars to go with three birdies and two bogeys. Greyson Leach rounded out the Ducks' counting scores with a 6-over 77.

Quotable
"Overall, today was a solid day for us," head coach Casey Martin said. "It was a disappointing finish, but there's plenty of golf left for us to get it back."

Duck Scorecard
The Prestige
Greg Norman Course at PGA WEST – Par 71 (7,185 yards)
T4. Oregon – 282 (-2)
T1. Aiden Krafft – 66 (-5)
T14. Eric Doyle – 69 (-2)
T24. Jay Gould-Healy – 70 (-1)
T102. Greyson Leach – 77 (+6)
T110. Tim Chang – 78 (+7)

Notable
Oregon finished Monday's round with 20 birdies, the second-most of any team in the field, but also tied for the third-most bogeys (19) … Just like at the Amer Ari Intercollegiate, the Ducks are doing their damage on par-5s, finishing with a 5 under scoring average … Krafft has carded 23 birdies over his four rounds so far this spring.

Next Up
Second round action at The Prestige gets underway on Tuesday, Feb. 18. The Ducks teed off in the afternoon window on Monday, so will play in the early wave in Round 2.