ALPHARETTA, Ga. – The No. 7-ranked LSU Tigers lit up the Lakeside Course with the best team round of the day at 9-under par 279 to catapult themselves eight spots up the team standings into a tie for fifth place in the 15-team field during Saturday’s second round at the United States Collegiate Championship being held at The Country Club of Georgia.
Led once again by the performance of junior Zach Wright and sophomore Eric Ricard, the Tigers were five shots better than the rest of the field on the day as they vaulted themselves into the Top 5 of the team race by firing their second-lowest team round of the 2014 fall season for a 36-hole score of 1-under par 575 for the championship.
The Tigers nearly matched their first-round performance at the Golfweek Conference Challenge on Sept. 14 when they opened with a season-low 10-under par 278 en route to their first victory of the season.
LSU wrapped up the day in a tie for fifth place in the 15-team field with the No. 8-ranked Auburn Tigers as they will look to finish strong in Sunday’s final round. The Tigers entered the weekend as champions of the last two tournaments at the Golfweek Conference Challenge held on Sept. 14-16 and the David Toms Intercollegiate held on Oct. 4-5.
The 17th-ranked Texas Longhorns erased a six-shot deficit to 28th-ranked Virginia to start the round by posting an even-par 288 on the day to claim a one-shot lead in the team race over the second-place Cavaliers. They wrapped up the afternoon at 10-under par 566 for the tournament. Texas A&M follows in third place at 6-under par 570, while No. 9-ranked Wake Forest rounds out the Top 5 in fourth place at 4-under par 572.
Wright is poised for his first top-10 finish of his junior season after firing a bogey-free season-low round of 5-under par 67 to also fire himself into the Top 5 of the individual leaderboard in fifth place.
After teeing off from the 10th tee to start his round, Wright made the turn at even-par for the day after carding nine-straight birdies on the back nine for score of 36 at the turn. He caught fire on the front nine when he opened with back-to-back birdies at the par-five first and par-four second holes before adding birdies at the par-four fourth, par-four eighth and par-five ninth holes en route to a season-low 5-under 67 on the day.
Wright will tee off Sunday morning in sole possession of fifth place on the leaderboard at 5-under par 139 for the championship after opening with an even-par 72 in Friday’s first round.
Ricard finished the day just two shots outside the Top 10 of the leaderboard as he fired a career-low score of 4-under par 68 to also lead the Tigers on the afternoon. After opening the championship with a 2-over 74 in Friday’s action, Ricard followed with his best round as an LSU Tiger with a 68 to catapult himself 32 spots up the standings and into a tie for 14th place overall at 2-under par 142 for the weekend.
Ricard went one better than Wright as he carded six birdies on the afternoon as he also dipped into red figures at the par-four second, fifth and seventh holes on the front nine and the par-four 12th, par-three 13th and par-five 18th holes on the back nine. His only blemish was a double bogey 7 at the par-five first hole as he finished the day with a career-low round of 4-under 68.
Senior All-American Ben Taylor broke par himself during Saturday’s action with a 1-under par 71 to climb into a tie for 30th place overall at 1-over 145 for the championship. The Tigers also counted the 1-over par 73 from senior Myles Lewis as the New Orleans native rounded out a 36-hole score of 5-over par 149 to finish the day in a tie for 54th place.
Senior All-American Stewart Jolly rounded out the LSU lineup with a 4-over par 76 in the second round to finish the day in a tie for 67th place overall in the individual standings at 8-over par 152 after 36 holes.
University of Virginia standout Denny McCarthy followed his record round of 9-under 63 on Friday with an even-par 72 on Saturday to remain atop the leaderboard at 9-under par 135 for the championship to hold onto a two-shot lead over teammate Derek Bard. Rounding out the Top 5 individually are Oklahoma State’s Kristoffer Ventura and Texas’ Kramer Hickok in a tie for third place overall at 6-under par 138.
UNITED STATES COLLEGIATE CHAMPIONSHIP – SECOND ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 576)
1. Texas 278-288 – 566 -10; 2. Virginia 272-295 – 567 -9; 3. Texas A&M 281-289 – 570 -6; 4. Wake Forest 288-284 – 572 -4; T5. LSU 296-279 – 575 -1; T5. Auburn 286-289 – 575 -1; T7. Oklahoma State 290-286 – 576 E; T7. Stanford 283-293 – 576 E; 9. East Tennessee State 286-292 – 578 +2; T10. Iowa 291-289 – 580 +4; T10. Washington 290-290 – 580 +4; T12. UCLA 287-294 – 581 +5; T12. Georgia Tech 296-285 – 581 +5; 14. Clemson 294-290 – 584 +8; 15. Kent State 304-296 – 600 +24.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 144)
1. Denny McCarthy, Virginia, 63-72 – 135 -9; 2. Derek Bard, Virginia, 66-71 – 137 -7; T3. Kristoffer Ventura, Oklahoma State, 68-70 – 138 -6; T3. Kramer Hickok, Texas, 70-68 – 138 -6; 5. Zach Wright, LSU, 72-67 – 139 -5; T6. Paul McBride, Wake Forest, 71-69 – 140 -4; T6. Maverick McNealy, Stanford, 66-74 – 140 -4; T6. Cody Proveaux, Clemson, 73-67 – 140 -4; T6. Carson Schaake, Iowa, 69-71 – 140 -4; T6. Adria Arnaus, Texas A&M, 69-71 – 140 -4.
LSU SCORES
5. Zach Wright, 72-67 – 139 -5
T14. Eric Ricard, 74-68 – 142 -2
T30. Ben Taylor, 74-71 – 145 +1
T54. Myles Lewis, 76-73 – 149 +5
T67. Stewart Jolly, 76-76 – 152 +8