WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Colorado junior Derek Tolan finished the first round of the NCAA Men's Golf Championships on Wednesday in a tie for 10th.

Tolan is the first Buff golfer to compete in the NCAA Finals since 2002, when the entire team qualified and tied for 14th, and he's the first to qualify individually since 1993.

"I thought he did a real good job today," head coach Roy Edwards said. "He playedwell on the front nine, but he had bogeys on both par 5s on the back and that kind of halted his momentum. So overall he and I know he could have certainly played better, but he's right there."

Tolan is one of 14 players tied for 10th, five strokes out of the lead. UCLA's Kevin Chappell shot the only round in the 60s to open play, a 3-under 69.

"Honestly, I was extremely nervous, I'm not going to lie," Tolan said of his first appearance in the NCAA Finals. "On the first hole, I noticed a different feeling because I am playing for so much more than myself out there. I take pride in representing the university, so I am not just playing for myself."

In 2002, as a 16-year old, Tolan played in the U.S. Open at Bethpage, N.Y.

"I was definitely more nervous back then," he said. "But it was two different kinds of nervous. It was more of an anxious nervousness today; the U.S. Open was more terrifying. But I overcame it both times and hit my drive into the fairway. Sometimes that's when you play your best golf."

Top ranked Southern California and No. 5 UCLA are tied for the team lead at 9-over 297; No. 4 Oklahoma State is one back at 298, with No. 10 Clemson and No. 27 Kent State tied for fourth at 301.

NCAA Championships

TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS

1. Kevin Chappell, UCLA 34-35--69

2. David Markle, Kent State 35-35--70

2. Tim Sluiter, USC 35-35--70

4. Billy Horschel, Florida 35-35--72

4. Joel Sjoholm, Georgia State 39-33--72

4. Kyle Stanley, Clemson 38-34--72

7. Trent Leon, Oklahoma State 34-39--73

7. Webb Simpson, Wake Forest 35-38--73

7. Hudson Swafford, Georgia 40-33--73

10. Derek Tolan, Colorado 36-38--74

(13 others tied at 2-over 74)