RIDGEFIELD, Wash. – Unable to cluster more than one golfer among the top 10 scorers, Linfield settled into fifth place after the first round of the Northwest Conference Fall Classic Saturday at rainy Tri-Mountain Golf Course.

Taylor Klopp (Soph., Eugene, Ore.) shot a 4-over-par 76 to pace Linfield, which scored a four-player total of 318 to sit 17 strokes of first-day leader Whitworth.

Linfield’s Taylor Pirnke (Soph., Mill Creek, Wash.) scored an 80 to share 18th place, while Connor Magnuson (Soph., Albany, Ore.) and Ryan Nolan (Soph., Tigard, Ore.) each pocketed matching 81s to tie for 25th place. Fellow Wildcat A.J. Taylor (Jr., Kirkland, Wash.) carded an 84 but his score was not factored into team score.

Puget Sound is in close pursuit of Whitworth, sitting one stroke back at 302. Pacific Lutheran is third at 309, followed by George Fox at 315.

Setting the individual pace is PLU’s Justin Hegge, whose 1-under 71 tops the leaderboard. Stephen Plopper of Whitworth and UPS’s Derek Wilson are one stroke back.

After Linfield’s 318, Whitman sits two strokes back at 320, followed by Willamette (326), Lewis & Clark (333), and Pacific (337).

The outcome of the nine-team tournament, one of three “major” events slated over the course of the 2012-13 season, counts 25 percent toward determining the conference’s team champion.

Second-round action begins Sunday morning at 8:30 at Tri-Mountain GC.