NCAA Men's Golf Championships 2017: Vanderbilt Leads After Shortened 1st Round

First-round play in the NCAA Men's Golf National Championship was not completed Friday due to rain, but Vanderbilt and Braden Thornberry of Ole Miss topped their respective leaderboards at the conclusion of play at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove Illinois.

Vandy sits at eight-under overall, two strokes ahead of Auburn. Here is a look at the current leaderboard, courtesy of Golfstat.com:

1. (4) Vanderbilt: -8 (Thru 15-18)

2. (20) Auburn: -6 (282)

3. (3) Oklahoma State: -5 (Thru 15-18)

4. (1) USC: -4 (Thru 15-18)

T5. (8) Illinois: -3 (Thru 10-14)

T5. (6) LSU: -3 (Thru 14-16)

T5. (5) Baylor: -3 (Thru 14-16)

T5. (16) UNLV: -3 (Thru 10-13)

T9. (22) Ole Miss: -1 (287)

T9. (31) Alabama: -1 (287)

From an individual perspective, Thornberry has a score of six-under with Auburn's Jacob Solomon trailing by one shot:

1. (23) Braden Thornberry (Ole Miss): -6 (66)

2. Jacob Solomon (Auburn): -5 (65)

T3. (13) Matthias Schwab (Vanderbilt): -4 (Thru 15)

T3. (32) Justin Suh (USC): -4 (Thru 15)

T3. Michael Feagles (Illinois): -4 (Thru 14)

T3. (1) Sam Burns (LSU): -4 (Thru 14)

T7. Matt Gilchrest (Auburn): -3 (69)

T7. Chun An Yu (Arizona State): -3 (69)

T7. Joshua McCarthy (Pepperdine): -3 (69)

T7. Jonathan Hardee (Alabama): -3 (69)

T7. (90) Hunter Shattuck (Baylor): -3 (Thru 16)

T7. (40) Viktor Hovland (Oklahoma State): -3 (Thru 15)

Play was delayed on two occasions Friday due to rain and lightning, resulting in the afternoon groups being unable to finish the first round.

Fourth-ranked Vandy's players made it through the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th holes before play ceased, meaning it could potentially add to its lead before the first round is over.

No. 13-ranked Matthias Schwab was the Commodores' top performer thanks to a strong day on the greens, including this birdie on No. 18, courtesy of Vanderbilt Golf on Twitter:

Schwab has played his way into a tie for third individually thus far, and three of his teammates are also in the top 24.

That includes Patrick Martin, who birdied the 14th and sits at one-under:

Thornberry, who is ranked No. 23, managed to get his entire first round in, and he had little issue with the difficult conditions in firing a six-under 66.

He came through with big putts when he needed to, such as this clutch par to preserve his spot atop the leaderboard, per Ole Miss Men's Golf:

Despite Thornberry's showing, the Rebels ended Friday seven shots off the pace in the team competition.

Thornberry's closest competitor is Auburn's Solomon, who turned in a surprising round of five-under 67 despite being unranked.

According to Auburn Men's Golf, Solomon had one of the best first rounds in Auburn golf history at the NCAA National Championship, capped off by a birdie on No. 9:

Solomon isn't the only Tigers golfer in the hunt for an individual championship, as teammate Matt Gilchrest is just two strokes behind him at three-under.

Gilchrest's biggest moment of the day was a chip-in for eagle on the 18th:

With Solomon and Gilchrest leading the way, Auburn is just two shots behind Vandy.

Many of the top-ranked teams are within striking distance of the lead, including No. 3 Oklahoma State in third, No. 1 USC in fourth and No. 5 Baylor in a tie for fifth.

Baylor's Hunter Shattuck braved the conditions to shoot three-under through 16 holes, helped by this birdie on No. 11, courtesy of Baylor Men's Golf:

Bears teammate Matthew Perrine is further back in a tie of 24th, but he had what was arguably the putt of the day when he drained a 50-foot birdie on the fourth to keep Baylor in the running:

Among single players, top-ranked Sam Burns of LSU is among those tied for third at four-under, and he still has four holes left to play in his round.

Some of the other highly ranked players didn't fare quite as well with No. 2 Wyndham Clark of Oregon tied for 62nd at one-over and No. 3 Maverick McNealy of Stanford tied for 106th at three-over.

Opening-round play will conclude Saturday at Rich Harvest Farms before attempting to play the second round in its entirety.