FIRST ROUND QUOTES
Rich Harvest Farms, Sugar Grove, Illinois
Friday, May 26

Nick Clinard, Auburn head coach
Thoughts on the first round…
"First of all, our goal was to play well. We can only control us. You go out and manage our games, control our emotions and do the best we can. As far as the round, we got off to a really great start. We started on 10 and did really well on 10 and 11. Eleven was a pretty easy par five. We hung in there, played 18 well and then we struggled a little bit coming down the stretch. We dropped some shots on seven and eight; we had four bogies on eight and we played seven two over. We could have had a really really good day, but it was a good start to the week. It's a long week so we will take it!"
 
 
Jacob Solomon, Auburn
Keys to day one performance…
"Just being aggressive and having fun out here… (I mean) it's the national championship. The atmosphere is obviously way more intense than a normal tournament. You just got to come out here and have fun… coach emphasized that this week. Driving and iron play [was] really good today… I couldn't have done much better (honestly)."
 
On team preparation before round one…
"We had really good preparation in our practice round (yesterday)… two of our seniors (Matt Gilchrist and Ryan Benson) played the Western Amateur (out here) a couple years back, so they were giving us some really good tips (yesterday) on spots to hit it and what to look out for. Our preparation is key. We have a really good team chemistry as a group and we have a lot of fun."
 
Thoughts on preparing for round two…
"Try to do the same things… put yourself in the same spots on the course. (Just) continue to ball strike it well and make your putts. It's pretty simple… just have to execute."
 
 
Braden Thornberry, Ole Miss
Keys to round one performance…
"I really just never got in trouble, never really was close to making any bogeys, was sitting in the fairways and when I did miss [I] was lucky enough to get a few good lies and go from there. Kept it in front of me and made some putts, really try to make it an easy day."
 
Thoughts on team being in the NCAA Championship…
"It's awesome. Just to make it here is an honor. Individually it's cool playing against the best in the country, and the teams, as well to (kind of) see how we stack up against them. I'm looking forward to the rest of the week."
 
Thoughts on preparing for round two…
"Tomorrow will be in the afternoon so it will probably be a little bit firmer and faster. As far as game plan, it will be pretty similar, try and hit fairways and just give myself opportunities. I might make them. I might not, just do my best there."