The No. 5 UW men’s golf team had a less-than-stellar opening round performance yesterday at The Prestige at PGA West, firing a combined 9-over 297. The Huskies are tied for eighth place overall.

Coming off a runner-up finish at the PING/Golfweek Invitational and a win at the Topy Cup, the Dawgs were favorites coming into The Prestige, which is played at the 7,026-yard Stadium Course at PGA West. But the UW team did not play at the top of their game yesterday: All players shot over par and the team now finds itself 17 shots out of first place.

UW Senior All-American Nick Taylor, the 2009 Pac-10 co-player-of-the-year, led the Huskies with a 1-over 73 and is tied for 22nd place overall. Taylor birdied four holes, but had three bogeys and one double bogey. Fellow All-American seniors Richard Lee and Darren Wallace didn’t fare much better. Lee had a consistent round, making 14 pars en route to a 3-over 75. Wallace had back-to-back double bogeys on 12 and 13 and fired a 5-over 77.

Newcomer Charlie Hughes had an impressive day overshadowed by a quadruple-bogey 8 on the 18th hole and ended up with a 3-over 75. Junior Tze Huang Choo rounded out the group by shooting a 2-over 74.

Senior Chris Killmer and freshman Chris Williams, playing as individuals, both shot a 6-over 78 and are tied for 63rd place.

UCLA leads the field after firing an 8-under 280. The Bruins had four players at even-par or better. Today’s second round will get underway at 12:30 p.m. with a shotgun start.

Reach reporter Taylor Soper at sports@dailyuw.com.