Jefferson Hagen / MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON – With the wind swirling across every inch of the gnarled, fescue-lined links at Red Tail Landing, scores predictably crept higher than usual on the opening day of the ACAC Golf Championship Saturday.

When the dust settled, Red Deer College's Logan Hill somehow managed to buck that trend, putting a 1-under 71 in the books that has him a four-shot lead for the men's individual championship.

"I just hit a lot of greens, hit a lot of good tee shots in the right spots and hit a lot of 2-irons under the wind, which helps a lot when it's blowing 40 (km/h)," said Hill, who honed his wind game over the summer with a membership to Wolf Creek Golf Resort – a similar wide-open track like Red Tail.

MacEwan's Josh Gorieu – a reigning All-Canadian and runner-up at the 2016 ACAC Championship – is tied for second with RDC's Clayton Dunn after both shot rounds of 75.

"I think the conditions out there were very difficult," he said. "Some of the wind directions out there made things really challenging. So, I think everyone's going to come in higher than they'd like to.

"Other than that, I felt like I played pretty good today."

MacEwan's Josh Gorieu enters Sunday's final round four shots off the lead at the ACAC Championship (Jefferson Hagen photo).

Concordia's Jason Wiwad (76) and a pair of UAlberta-Augustana players – Michael Harrison (77) and Braden Clarkson (77) – round out the top five.

RDC also has the lead in the men's team standings with their top four players counting for a 310 combined total, but it's a dogfight. The Kings are just two shots better than MacEwan and only nine ahead of UAA. Concordia is also in the mix (320), while Medicine Hat (331) isn't out of the picture going into Day 2.

On the women's side, MacEwan's Daniela Donnelly has a share of the lead after an 84, tied with Red Deer's Shaye Leidenius. Her round would have been even better, if not for a snowman on Hole 7.

"Considering the wind and I took an eight on seven, I'm very happy with my score," she said with a grin about her lengthy trip around the Par 4 hole, playing 322 yards for the women. "I topped a couple shots and I hit it in some long grass. It was tough to get out of it. It's OK, you keep going."

The fifth-year player, in her final ACAC Championship, found the mental strength to par the next hole and went from there.

"I just felt throughout the rest of the round I was confident with my game, so I just kept going and didn't worry about the eight," she said.

Concordia's Kassidy Turcotte is third after an 85, while MacEwan's Elizabeth Stewart (87) and Medicine Hat's Nicole Schultz (89) round out the top five.

MacEwan's top two players combined for a 171, giving them a nine-shot lead over Medicine Hat in the women's team standings. Red Deer is third (187).

CHIP SHOTS … MacEwan's remaining men's scores from Saturday included Justin Berget (T7, 78), Dakota Smith (T7, 78), Noah Lubberding (T9, 79), Les Fisher (T9, 79), Zac Yurick (T11, 80), Christian Solkowski (T19, 82) and Brandon Walterhouse (T19, 82) … Also competing on the women's side for MacEwan were Hailey Turcotte (6^th, 90) and Rachel Wiebe (8^th, 94).

2017 ACAC Championship

At Red Tail Landing GC

Final Round Tee Times on Sunday

Competing teams: (GMU – MacEwan University; MHC – Medicine Hat College; RDC – Red Deer College; UAA – Ualberta-Augustana; CUE – Concordia University; PC – Portage College)