Chattanooga moves up to 11th at NCAA Columbus Regional
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Chattanooga Mocs men’s golf team shot 294 Friday in the second round of the NCAA Columbus Regional on the Scarlet Course. UTC is 11th overall at 598, one behind Virginia.
Benni Weilguni was the story for the Mocs. He fired a 2-under par 69 to pace the squad. He was followed closely by Chris Robb with a 72 (+1). Davis Bunn and Steven Fox shot 76 and 77, respectively, to fashion the team score.
The magic number to advance is a top-five finish. With 18 holes to play, Chattanooga has its work cut out for it. The Mocs are 11 behind No. 5 New Mexico and Texas Tech, which are tied for fifth at 587.
The Mocs are bunched together with four strokes separating Fox at 150 and Bunn at 154. Robb trails Fox by one at 151, while Weilguni and Liam Johnston are another shot back at 152.
UNLV and No. 20 South Carolina lead with a 36-hole total of 584. No. 8 Stanford and No. 18 Auburn are two off the pace at 587, followed by the Lobos and Red Raiders in fifth at 587.
Carl Jonson (UNLV) is the individual leader at 2-under par 140. He is a stroke clear of Matias Dominguez (Texas Tech) and Will Starke (South Carolina), who are tied for second at minus-1 (141).
The Mocs get their Saturday start at 8:20 a.m., playing with Virginia and Georgia Southern and starting on No. 10. Bunn leads, with Weilguni (8:30), Johnston (8:40), Robb (8:50) and Fox (9:00) to follow.
Georgia Southern slips to 12th at NCAA Columbus Regional
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Georgia Southern golf team posted a 308 and fell to 12th place after the second round of the NCAA Columbus Regional at Ohio State’s Scarlet Course on Friday.
The Eagles (+38) are eight shots behind Chattanooga (+30) in 11th place and 19 shots behind Texas Tech (+19) and New Mexico, which are tied for fifth. The low five teams and the low individual not on those teams from the six regionals will advance to the finals at the Capital City Club Crabapple Course in Atlanta, Ga., May 28-June 2.
UNLV’s Carl Johnson (-2) leads the individual standings, and Purdue’s Adam Schenk (+1) is in fifth place and would be the individual to advance to the finals if action concluded Friday.
UNLV (+16) shot a 292, and South Carolina fired a 288 to move into a tie for first. Auburn (+18) posted a 291, and Stanford had a 293 to tie for third. Charlotte, which opened the day in the lead, fell to eighth after posting a 309.
Christian Humber led Georgia Southern with a 75, and Scott Wolfes posted a 76. Will Evans notched a 78, and Hayden Anderson carded a 79.
Charlie Martin rounded out the group with an 81.
Scoring conditions on the course were good early, but it was tough to find birdies as the day went on. Georgia Southern went off hole 10 at 9 a.m. after an hour delay because of a thick fog. The Eagles, hoping to get off to a good start, stubbed their toes, playing the first three holes a collective 4-over and could never get any momentum going.
Things got worse before they got better, and the GSU quintet made the turn at a collective 20-over.
Humber and Wolfes were able to steady themselves a bit on their last nine holes. Humber birdied hole 2 and played the front nine 1-under to finish +4 on the day, while Wolfes finished with seven straight pars and played the front nine at 2-over.
Evans played the back nine at 3-over but posted two double-bogeys on the front. Anderson was also 3-over after his first nine holes but had five bogeys after the turn. Martin led the squad with three birdies and was 5-over heading down the stretch but played his final six holes at 5-over.
The regional tournament concludes Saturday, and the Eagles will tee off hole 10 at 8:20 a.m. Martin will lead things off for GSU, followed by Anderson, Evans, Humber and Wolfes.
College of Charleston duo continues play NCAA Baton Rouge Regional
BATON ROUGE, La. – For the second consecutive day, the average score for the tournament was four strokes over par, as junior Alex Ellis and freshman Josh Lorenzetti completed their second of three rounds at the NCAA Men’s Golf Baton Rouge Regional at the University Club on Friday.
Ellis carded two birdies but made six bogeys on the way to a 6-over 78. He is now 8-over for the tournament and tied for 30th place.
Lorenzetti had a rough day as he made one birdie, four bogeys, two double-bogeys and two triple-bogeys to shoot a 13-over 85 for his round. He is currently tied for 70th place.
Florida is leading the tournament with a combined score of +2 over the two rounds of play.
Through the first two rounds, the average score per round is 76.61, and for the second round, all 18 holes averaged over par.
Ellis and Lorenzetti will play together Saturday in the final round and will tee off at 10:20 a.m. Eastern.
Davidson’s Fountain moved up to 13th at NCAA Tallahassee Regional
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Davidson’s Richard Fountain bettered his opening-round 71 with a 4-under 68 Friday afternoon to move into a tie for 13th at the 2013 NCAA Men’s Golf Regional.
The three-day event hosted by Florida State is being played on the 6,965-yard, par-72 Golden Eagle Golf & Country Club layout.
Fountain got off to a fast start opening with birdies on his first two holes (10 & 11) and later rolled in a 55-foot eagle putt on the par-5 15th to move to 5-under for the tournament. After making the turn at 4-under 32, the junior suffered a double-bogey on the par-4 second hole to fall back to 2-under on the day and minus-3 overall.
The 2011 SoCon champion responded to his only blemish of the day by playing the remaining seven holes in 2-under, including a birdie on his final hole of the day, the par-5 ninth.
Through 36 holes of play, Fountain has recorded an eagle, nine birdies and five bogeys or worse.
No. 19 North Florida (-27) held on to the top spot on the team leaderboard and will enter the final day with a two-stroke advantage over No. 6 Washington (-25). The Seminoles (-23) are two back of the Huskies, while Oregon (-14), Georgia Tech (-12) and South Florida (-12) round out the top five.
Like his team, the Ospreys’ MJ Maguire (-11) maintained his individual lead with a second-round 68. Cheng-Tsung Pan (Washington) and Chase Sheiffert (Florida State) are one off the pace at -10.
The NCAA Division I Men's Golf Regional is a preliminary round of the NCAA Division I Men's Championship. The Tallahassee Regional consists of a 54-hole tournament with 13 teams and 10 individual players. The low five teams and low individual not included on those five teams will advance to the NCAA Championship that runs May 28-June 2 at Capital City Club Crabapple Course in Atlanta, Ga.
Western Carolina’s Poston tied for 32nd at NCAA Tallahassee Regional
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Opening on the back nine, Western Carolina sophomore J.T. Poston had an up-and-down round on Friday, carding five birdies against three bogeys and one double to shoot even-par 72 to slip into a tie for 32nd overall at the NCAA Men’s Golf Tallahassee Regional.
Poston has a two-day total of 1-under par, 143, to rank sixth out of the 10 individuals at the par-72, 6,965-yard Golden Eagle Country Club. It is the second-best two-day performance for a Catamount men’s golfer at a NCAA regional tournament.
Paired with Keegan Boone from Loyola-Maryland and Mercer’s Hans Reimers, Poston is scheduled to tee off in his final round on the back nine at 9:30 am. Saturday.
With birdies on two of his first four holes on Friday morning, Poston jumped to 2-under par heading to his fourth hole. However, a double-bogey on the par-4, 447-yard No. 14 put him back at even, where he remained until a birdie on the 18th allowed him to make the turn at 1-under par.
Poston birdied the first hole of his second nine – a hole he bogeyed in the opening round – to move back to 2-under par. However, consecutive bogeys on the par-4 No. 2 and par-3 No. 3 left him even-par with six holes to play. The Hickory, N.C., product birdied the par-5, 539-yard fourth and scored bogey on the par-3 seventh to finish 1-over on the front nine and even-par for the round.
Among the other individuals Poston is competing against, Richmond’s Daniel Walker has consecutive rounds of 68 and 67 to stand tied for fourth overall at 135, while Richard Fountain (t-13th) of Davidson is second among the individuals at 139.
First-round leader M.J. Maguire of North Florida continues to pace the field, following up his opening-round, 7-under par 65 with a 4-under par 68 on Friday to shoot 133. He is one stroke ahead of the two-way tie between Cheng-Tsung Pan of Washington and Florida State’s Chase Seiffert at 134.
Behind Maguire’s strong start, North Florida leads the field with a two-day total of 549, two strokes ahead of second place Washington, 549-551. Florida State is third, four strokes off the pace at 553, with Oregon (562) in fourth followed by a tie between Georgia Tech and South Florida for fifth at 564.