FAIRFAX, Calif. - The underclassmen shone brightest for Santa Clara men's golf in the first day of action at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational. Freshman Emil Nielsen and sophomore J.P. Odland each shot an outstanding 9-under par and are tied for eighth after 36 holes of action at the Meadow Club. Nielson had a particularly memorable day, turning in an incredible 8-under 63 in the first round. The tally is not only the lowest of any Bronco this season, but stands as the lowest score since 2023 when Julien Paltrinieri turned in a 63 (-9) at the John Burns Intercollegiate. 

The Broncos impressed across the board as a team with a 36-hole tally of 22-under 546 to tie for sixth and are five strokes outside of the top five. 

ROUND HIGHLIGHTS:

• Nielsen's opening round 63 is the lowest 18-hole score by a Bronco Freshman in program history. 
• Nielsen was nearly perfect in the opening round with his lone blemish coming on the par-4 No. 3 hole where he was two strokes over. Outside of that, the Wellesley, Mass. product tallied four birdies on both the front and back nine, and sank an eagle putt on the par-5 15th. He followed up with a 1-under 70 in the second round that saw five more birdies on the card for a total of 15 birdies/eagles for the day. 
• Odland was consistent in both rounds, turning in his third and fourth rounds in the 60s of the season with a 67-66--139. He carded six birdies to offset a pair of bogeys in the opening round and was bogey-free with five birdies, including three-straight on Nos. 15-17, as part of a 5-under 66 tally. 
• Cameron Kaiser, a late add to the lineup, made the best of his opportunity by carding a 3-under 70-69--139 to tie for 42nd. His 2-under 69 is tied for the lowest single round tally of his career.
• Alvaro Muller was even for the day with a pair of 71s to tie for 61st while Calder Overfelt shook off a 5-over start to the day with a 1-under 70 in the second round to finish the day tied for 70th at 4-over 146. 
• Pacific holds the team lead at 41-under 527 followed closely by San Jose State (531). Host-Cal (536), San Diego (537) and Saint Mary's (541) round out the top five while Cal Poly (546) tied the Broncos for sixth. 
• A pair of San Jose State Spartans share the individual lead at 13-under 129 (Zubair Firdaus and Keshav Mungali). 

SANTA CLARA INDIVIDUALS:

Position	Player	Score
T8	Nielsen	63-70--133 (-9)
T8	Odland	67-66--133 (-9)
T42	Kaiser	70-69--139 (-3)
T61	Muller	71-71--142 (E)
T79	Overfelt	76-70--146 (+4)

TEAM RESULTS:

NEXT UP:
The Broncos will look to finish strong in tomorrow's final round.