Valparaiso University men's golf junior Rob Politza (Lemont, Ill. / Lemont Township) is among the tournament leaders through one day of action at Rice's Bayou City Collegiate Classic, which began on Monday at the par-72, 7184-yard Westwood Golf Club in Houston. The teams played the first round plus the first 12-13 holes of the second round, completing as much golf as possible after waiting out a weather delay of 2 hours, 22 minutes. The remainder of the second round will be played on Tuesday prior to the third and final round.
 
How It Happened

• Politza posted a 4-under 68 in the first round, circling seven birdies on his scorecard in the process. He has not bogeyed a hole in Round 2 and is at -3 for the round and -7 for the day at the point where play was halted late Monday. Politza's tournament score of seven under puts him tied with Connor Henry for second of 87 on the player leaderboard, behind only Texas' Sterling Hurd, who is golfing as an individual and has a score of -9.
• The team's second-best opening round score came courtesy of redshirt senior Ryan Somerville (Aurora, Ontario / Aurora) at 72 (E). He doubled his second hole of the day and was three over through four holes before digging himself out by playing the next 10 holes at three under. Somerville is at +4 for the second round and for the tournament, putting himself tied for 49^th on the player leaderboard.
• Politza, freshman Tyler Samaan (Elgin, Ill. / Burlington) and senior Elliot Lee (Tillamook, Ore. / Tillamook) are all at par or better in Round 2. Samaan is at -2 for the second round so far.
• Valpo is at -1 for the second round after a +7 first round. The team's score of +6 for the day is eight of 13. UT Arlington holds the top spot on the team leaderboard at -12.

 
Up Next
The remainder of the tournament will be played on Tuesday. A link to live scoring can be found on ValpoAthletics.com.