PANAMA CITY, Fla. (theACC.com) – With three players in the top five, Stanford finished 13-under 275 to take the lead after the first round of stroke play at the 2026 ACC Men’s Golf Championship at Shark’s Tooth Golf Course at Watersound Club.

Stanford’s Edan Cui and Dean Greyserman finished 4-under to tie for second, while teammate Nathan Wang is tied for fifth at 3-under. Jay Leng rounded out the Cardinal scoring with a 2-under 70, as four of the five Stanford players are in the top 10 on the individual leaderboard.

SMU’s William Sides leads the medalist race, firing a 6-under 66, highlighted by a 5-under 31 on the front nine. Sides leads Cui, Greyserman and teammate Ben Steinmann by a pair of shots.

Stanford holds a 10-shot lead over Wake Forest (285, -3), which sits in second place, while North Carolina (286, -2) and Georgia Tech (287, -1) joined the Cardinal and Demon Deacons as the only teams to finish the round under par. Led by Sides, SMU finished at even par (287), while NC State (288, +1) and Louisville (289, +2) are sixth and seventh, respectively. Clemson, Florida State and Virginia are tied for the elusive eighth position, the final spot in Sunday’s match play.

The 2026 ACC Men’s Golf Championship continues Friday at 9 a.m. ET with the second round of stroke play. The third and final round is scheduled for Saturday at 9 a.m. ET, as the top eight teams advance to the match play. Admission is free for all spectators throughout the 2026 ACC Men’s Golf Championship. The tournament is not a ticketed event.