Georgia Southern moves into tie for fifth at NCAA San Antonio Regional

SAN ANTONIO – Junior Charlie Martin made a team-leading six birdies and shot a 68 to lead the Eagles to a 1-under-par 287 team score and into a tie for fifth place in the second round of the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship San Antonio Regional at Briggs Ranch Golf Club on Friday.

The top five teams and the top individual not on those teams advance to the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan., May 23-28.

Georgia Southern, which was one of five teams to shoot under par Friday, has put itself squarely in a position to earn a bid, and things are boiling down to a six-team tournament for 18 holes Saturday with two spots to the NCAA finals on the line.

The Eagles (+2) are in a three-way tie with UCLA (+2) and TCU (+2), with Georgia State (+1) a stroke ahead and in fourth place. College of Charleston (+5) is in eighth, followed by UCF (+6) in ninth.

Vanderbilt (-8) shot 15-under Friday to vanquish its 7-over score from Thursday and charge up the leaderboard and into second place. Georgia (-10) leads the tournament, and SMU (-6) is in third. The trio looks to have three spots to the finals locked up, barring a collapse on the course Saturday.

Should the Eagles find themselves tied for the fifth and final spot after the third round, all five players would be involved in a playoff, with the four lowest scores counting.

Hayden Anderson backed up his 70 Thursday with an even-par 72 and is tied for 10th in the individual standings. Martin moved from 44th into a tie for 13th, and Will Evans shot a 72 for the second straight day, putting him in a tie for 18th. Scott Wolfes posted a 75, and Matthew Mierzejewski carded a 78.

TCU’s Julien Brun (-10) matched the 67 he posted Thursday to open a five-shot lead for medalist honors over Bryson Dechambeau (-6), who shot a 71 and is in second place.

Martin got off to a torrid start on his first nine, with a birdie on hole 10, the team’s first hole of the day. He added birdies on 13, 14 and 16 to make the turn at 4-under. Consecutive bogeys on holes 3 and 4 dropped him back to 2-under, but he made the strokes back with birdies on holes 5 and 7, both long par-5s.

Birdies on holes 14 and 16 helped Anderson make the turn at 1-under. The senior notched bogeys on holes 1 and 5 but made birdie on 7 to finish even on the day. Evans was his usual, consistently good self with two birdies and two bogeys on both the front and the back.

Sitting at 2-over after his first seven holes, Wolfes looked to have things turned around with birdies on holes 18 and 2 to get back to even, but the junior struggled coming home, with three bogeys in his last six holes. After two bogeys early, Mierzejewski birdied hole 16 to fall to 1-over, but that was his only birdie of the day.

The Eagles will be paired with College of Charleston and UCF in Saturtday’s final round. Georgia Southern will tee off hole 10 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, and the order will be: Mierzejewski, Wolfes, Evans, Martin and Anderson.

 

UNCG seventh at NCAA Auburn Regional

AUBURN, Ala. – The UNCG men’s golf team continued its strong play at the NCAA Auburn Regional on Friday, posting an 8-over-par 296 in round two, sitting in seventh place overall after 36 holes of the 54-hole event at the Auburn University Club.

The top five teams in the regionals will advance to the NCAA Championship and the Spartans are just one shot out of the coveted fifth-place position. The third and final round will be held Saturday, with UNCG set for tee times between 7:30-8:10 a.m. off of tee No. 10.

Defending national champion and current No. 1 Alabama continued its dominant play, owning a 15-stroke lead after two days with a 5-under-par 571 (287-284). Host and No. 23 Auburn is second at 10-over-par 586 (294-292), while No. 37 Kennesaw State is third at 12-over-par 588 (297-291).

Six teams are within five strokes of each other in places four through nine, with No. 12 Virginia Tech holding fourth place with a 592 (301-291). No. 13 Texas and No. 36 BYU are currently tied for fifth overall at 593, while the Spartans are in seventh at 594. No. 48 Colorado is eighth at 595, while No. 25 is ninth overall with a 597 score.

Kelby Burton of Kennesaw State and Cory Whitsett of Alabama are tied for the individual lead at 4-under-par 140, while only seven players total are under par after 36 holes.

UNCG freshman Jake McGlone rebounded from a tough first round to card the Spartans’ lowest score of the day at 1-under-par 71. McGlone was solid all day long, posting 11 pars and four birdies, including three birdies on the final nine holes. He currently sits in a tie for 33rd place overall with a 6-over-par 150 (79-71).

Sophomore Taylor Coalson is the Spartans’ top player on the leader board in 13th place overall. Coalson is 2-over-par 146 through the first two days after a 71 Thursday and a 3-over par 75 Friday. Junior Roy Dixon is in 16th place after two rounds with a 3-over-par 147, as he posted a 72 in round one and a 75 in round two with four birdies Friday, including two on the last three holes.

Freshman Carter Jenkins is tied for 41st place with an 8-over-par 152 (77-75), while sophomore Luke Haithcock rounds out the lineup with a 13-over-par 157 (78-79).

The low five teams and the low individual not on those teams from each regional will advance to the finals. The finals will be conducted May 23-28 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan., with Wichita State acting as the host institution.

 

Chattanooga seventh at NCAA Eugene Regional

EUGENE, Ore. – With 18 holes to play, the Chattanooga Mocs men’s golf team is in good position at the NCAA Eugene Regional. The Mocs shot 12-over-par 292 to move into seventh place, four shots out of a coveted top-five finish.

No. 10 Houston and North Florida are tied for fifth at 583, four strokes ahead of Chattanooga and four behind No. 22 South Carolina (579) in fourth. East Tennessee State (589) and Tennessee (591) are two and four shots behind the Scenic City five, respectively.

Chris Robb continues to pace the Mocs. He followed his opening-round 67 with a team-best 72 (+2) Friday. His 1-under-par total of 139 is tied for second overall with Zach Foushee (Oregon) and Cameron Wilson (Stanford). The trio is six shots behind Stanford’s Patrick Rodgers at minus-7 (133).

Liam Johnston and Ewan Scott each carded 73s. Davis Bunn ended up one stroke behind that duo with a 74. Wes Gosselin turned in the drop score with an 83.

It was a solid if unspectacular round. Chattanooga made the turn at +7. That total rose to +13 with the Scottish trio still on the course. Scott birdied the par-4 eighth before Robb closed out the day with a birdie on nine. After trailing fifth-place by as many as nine during the final nine, the squad made up five of those strokes over the closing holes.

No. 3 Stanford leads the team scoring at 2-under 558. The Cardinal is nine clear of No. 15 Oklahoma in second at 567, while host Oregon used an even-par 280 to surge into third at 569.

Saturday’s final round starts at 10:30 a.m. on the 10th tee. The Mocs, ETSU and Tennessee are paired together, with Gosselin leading off, followed by Bunn (10:41), Scott (10:52), Johnston (11:03) and Robb (11:14). The top five teams and best individual not on an advancing team move on to Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan., for the NCAA Championship on May 23-28.

 

Davidson’s Fountain tied for 42nd at NCAA Raleigh Regional

RALEIGH, N.C. – In addition to concluding his opening round, which was suspended Thursday due to rain, Davidson’s Richard Fountain carded his second straight 2-over 73 Friday afternoon and sits at 4-over following 36 holes of the 2014 NCAA Golf Regional.

The three-day/54-hole event hosted by NC State is being played on the par-71, 7,213-yard Lonnie Poole Golf Course.

In Saturday’s third and final round, Fountain will tee off at 9:40 a.m. (10th hole) with Matthew McKnight (Bethune-Cookman) and Sean Bosdosh (Maryland).

Playing in his third NCAA tournament as an individual competitor, Fountain was at even-par through eight holes when the opening round was suspended due to heavy rain Thursday afternoon. When play resumed at 12:30 p.m. Friday, Fountain suffered a bogey on the ninth hole to fall to 1-over then strung together eight straight pars before giving one back at the 18th to shoot 2-over 73.

The three-time all-conference performer finished his opening round with birdies on the first and fourth holes while recording four bogeys. After 18 holes, Fountain was tied for 41st out of 75 competitors.

Following each group’s completion of the opening round, competitors were given a 30-minute break before beginning their second rounds. On his outward nine, Fountain posted seven pars and two bogeys, making the turn at 2-over 37. The senior finished with one birdie (15th hole), one bogey (13th hole) and seven pars on the back nine.

Finishing just before dark, Fountain will enter the final round tied for 42nd.

 

Western Carolina’s Poston tied for 42nd at NCAA Raleigh Regional

RALEIGH, N.C. – Western Carolina individual competitor J.T. Poston carded rounds of 4-over-par 75 and even-par 71 to sit in a tie for 42nd overall at the 2014 NCAA Men’s Golf Raleigh Regional being held at the par-71, 7,213-yard Lonnie Poole Golf Course and hosted by NC State.

The third and final round gets under way at 7:50 a.m. on Saturday. Paired with Emanuel Petrich of Bethune-Cookman and individual Franco Castro from Charlotte, WCU’s Poston opens his final round on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. on the back nine.

Resuming his weather-suspended opening round on the par-5 11th on Friday morning, Poston remained at even-par through the 15th hole. He then scored double-bogey on the par-4 16th followed by consecutive bogeys to card the 4-over-par 75 to sit in a tie for 55th overall. The second round for the Hickory, N.C., native was up-and-down, as the third-year striker countered three bogeys and a double-bogey with five birdies to shoot even-par 71.

Even-par through the first two holes of the second round, Poston ran into his first trouble on the par-4 third, double-bogeying the hole to move to 2-over. He countered with birdies on two of his next three, sandwiched around a bogey, and followed with three straight pars to make the turn at 1-over. A second bogey on the par-5 11th left Poston at 2-over par until birdieing three of the next five holes lowered his score to 1-under par with two holes to play.

Poston, who is playing in his second NCAA postseason event as an individual, moved back to even-par for the second round after charting bogey on the par-4 18th for a second consecutive round. He is tied with nine other golfers, including Davidson individual Richard Fountain.

Georgia Tech’s Ollie Schniederjans leads the individual field at a combined 8-under-par, shooting rounds of 66 and 68 to lead a three-way tie for the runner-up spot between teammate Bo Andrews, Kentucky’s Stephen Powers and Jonathan Sanders of Washington at 7-under-par 135.

The fifth-ranked Yellow Jackets pace the 13-team field at a combined 28-under-par 540, with eighth-ranked Washington at 12-under-par 556 in second place. No. 32 Kentucky is third at 8-under-par 560, with No. 20 Texas A&M (565) and No. 17 Florida State (567) rounding out the top five teams.

The low five teams and the low individual not on those teams from each regional will advance to the finals. The finals will be conducted May 23-28 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan., with Wichita State acting as the host institution.