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After the first day of the NCAA Championships, the UCLA men’s golf team sits in second place, only three strokes back of the lead.

The Bruins shot 8-under par Wednesday at Crosswater Golf Course in Sunriver, Ore., and are in contention for the national championship with three days to go. Only Wake Forest finished day one with a better score (11-under par).

“It was a good start for us, and we’re in a good position,” UCLA coach O.D. Vincent said. “But we can’t get too carried away.”

Saying it’s a long tournament, Vincent didn’t want to comment much on the teams ahead and behind the Bruins.

“It’s possible to get yourself in a bad position after the first day, and I’m glad we aren’t in one. But there’s a long ways to go.”

It appears that UCLA is in good shape after the first day.

UCLA entered the NCAA Championships ranked fifth in the country and is ahead of all of the teams that were ranked in the top four.

Top-ranked Georgia is in 20th place, 16 strokes back. Fourth-ranked Georgia Tech is in last place (30th), 24 strokes back.

The other two of the four teams that came in ranked ahead of UCLA are still in contention, however, near the top of the leaderboard. Second-ranked Oklahoma State is in third place, one stroke behind UCLA, and third-ranked Florida is in seventh place, seven strokes back.

Individually, the Bruins had some solid performances Wednesday. Daniel Im led the Bruins with a 4-under par 68, the fifth-best individual mark on the first day of the NCAA Championships.

Sophomore Kevin Chappell had the next best UCLA score, shooting a 2-under par 70. Freshmen Bruins Erik Flores and James Lee shot a 1-under par 71 to round out the Bruin total of 280 on the day.

Lee’s 71 was also crucial because he was a late substitution into the Bruin lineup, replacing freshman Lucas Lee after Regionals.

Wake Forest’s Kyle Reifers has the overall individual lead with a 7-under par 65.

But all this came on day one of four, and in college golf a lot of things can happen after the first round.

“We look at (the NCAA Championships) as two different tournaments. The first 54 holes are one tournament and the last 18 are another,” Vincent said.

Vincent stressed that his team’s strategy and approach will not change until the final day Saturday, and only if his team is in contention.

“We had a team meeting on Tuesday, and we aren’t going to reconvene until after Friday,” Vincent said. “There’s nothing to talk about it until then.”