Arizona State golf coach Randy Lein had flashbacks of his team's 1996 NCAA championship at The Honors Course after his Sun Devils posted a 2-under-par round in the morning wave Tuesday.
ASU was the only team that shot under par during a round in '96, and that was in the opening round.
But the deja vu did not last Tuesday as the weather warmed and the winds died, and a touch of rain allowed golfers to take aim at the greens during the afternoon rounds.
"I said the scores would be better and it's soft," Honors superintendent David Stone said. "We're fortunate that it wasn't worse than it was. We had three different rains on Sunday, then we had four-tenths of an inch Monday night, and that's what really hurt us."
Oklahoma State and Florida State shot 5-under-par 283s and share the lead after the first round. Oregon is one shot back. Defending champion Texas A&M is fourth, two shots off the lead.
"Conditions were a lot easier than expected," OSU coach Mike McGraw said. "There's some red on that scoreboard this afternoon. It's a hard golf course, but there was nothing that made it more difficult to play golf today. It was just dead calm and you had moisture keeping the greens soft."
The Sun Devils and Clemson are tied for fifth at 286. Florida and Augusta State also broke par and are tied for seventh.
Lein has been reminding his players that the NCAA championship is back where the Sun Devils won their most recent of two national titles. He's been talking about it since ASU first teed it up in the Illinois Invitational last September.
"He's been saying that 'we have something good going on here and I want to do what we did in '96, and I have a good feeling about this week,'" junior Jesper Kennegard said. "He's been saying that a lot this week. He's been saying it too much."
But Kennegard must have listened to his coach at least a little bit.
Kennegard is tied for the individual lead with Henrik Norlander of Augusta State at 4-under 68. There is a 10-man tie for third at 69.
Kennegard, who began on No. 10, was 5 under through eight holes, including the lone eagle No. 17 gave up Tuesday. He slipped with a bogey on No. 18, then reached 6 under with six holes to play.
"I ended up following him around because he got off to a good start," Lein said. "He got it to 6 under and I wanted to see something special."
Norlander's round included four birdies, two bogeys and an eagle on No. 11, where he hit a 3-wood to the back of the green and chipped in.
"I played solid golf the rest of the round," Norlander said. "You just have to drive it in the fairway here. They're perfect. The ball sets up every time."
The OSU Cowboys were led by sophomore Peter Uihlein, whose 69 ended with a bogey after a chip on No. 9.
"It's the easiest championship to win because lot of guys psych themselves out, and if we stay patient and play our own game, we'll be OK," said OSU sophomore Peter Uihlein, who is tied for third. "We play our own game. We make our own game plan and stick to it."
FSU was led by Seath Lauer, who also ended a 69 with a bogey that kept him out of a tie for first.
"They played well in the regional and they built on that, and the practice round was phenomenal," Seminoles coach Trey Jones said. "The course was soft, it was perfect weather and this course couldn't have played any easier than it did today. I don't mean to say that it was easy -- just as easy as it could be -- and guys took advantage of it."
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