UPDATE: Bond shoots MGCCC course record 66

UPDATED: THIS RELEASE INCLUDES ALL RESULTS FROM TUESDAY'S FIRST ROUND.

PLYMOUTH, Ind. —

Matthew Bond set a new school record Tuesday at Swan Lake Golf Resort, shooting a bogey-free 6-under 66 on a very windy day. He leads the field by one shot after 18 holes at the NJCAA Division II Men's Golf Championship.

The freshman from Ocean Springs didn't tie himself up worrying about the conditions, and it freed him to shoot one of the best rounds of his life on the biggest stage he's stepped onto.

"I definitely was just kind of floating out there," he said, "like kind of a euphoric feeling."

No. 2 Gulf Coast, the two-time defending national champions, finished the day 7-over, seven behind co-leaders No. 6 Murray State and Southeast. The Bulldogs are tied for sixth, with No. 10 Meridian, No. 3 South Mountain and No. 4 Kirkwood tied for third at 4-over.

The Bulldogs are scheduled to tee off the second round Wednesday at 11:51 a.m. on the Black Course.

"We got off to a good start, which is something we've really been focusing on," Gulf Coast coach Brad Thornton said. "To be honest, I'm really proud of how we finished. I guess I just need to go over a little five- or six-hole stretch there in the middle, where we played a little poor, but they responded coming down the stretch. By no means did we put ourselves in a bad position after Day 1." 

Jayden Owensby (Fr., Hernando/Hernando) shot 2-over 74. Logan Jensen (Fr., Diamondhead/Hancock) eagled 18 to get to 5-over, and Paul Hoefer (Fr., Heidelberg, Germany/Kurpfalzgymnasium Mannheim) shot 6-over.

The lowest previous round by a Bulldog on the Black Course was 69, and Bond beat that with room to spare, even as another birdie putt on 18 lipped out. Stanley Campbell shot 3-under in the third round last year on the way to his national title, and the other was shot by current assistant coach Jared Smith in 2012.

The tournament record on this course was Heartland's Mason Minkel in 2023, who shot 63.

"We kind of rode Matthew Bond today, to say the least," Thornton said. "That was probably the most impressive round I've ever seen on this golf course with the amount of wind that was blowing."

Bond birdied Nos. 5 and 7 on the front nine, then caught fire starting on No. 12. He birdied four of the next five holes.

"I just kept doing what I was doing without thinking about it," he said. "So that really kind of freed up my mental game, because I get down like that sometimes where I'm like, 'Just get it in, just get it in.'"

Bond leads Meridian's Jace Duckworth, Murray State's Connor Tallentire and Southeast's Cael Peters by one shot. Only eight of the 132-golfer field finished below par. 

Live Tournament Scoreboard: https://scoreboard.clippd.com/tournaments/244655/scoring/team

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