BRADENTON, Fla. – After teeing off in the early hours of Saturday’s second round in fifth place at the 2015 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships, the No. 7-seeded LSU Tigers were steady as they posted a team score of 1-over par 289 in the morning session at Concession Golf Club to climb two spot into a tie for third place after two rounds of stroke play qualifying.
With the afternoon wave of teams still yet to tee off, the Tigers held their ground and returned to the clubhouse in a tie for fifth place with their 36-hole score of 5-over par 581 after opening with a round of 4-over par 292 on Friday afternoon. The 2014 NCAA Semifinalists moved into a tie for third place in the team standings as the round unfolded.
Second-Team All-SEC standouts Zach Wright and Brandon Pierce matched their first-round performance again on Saturday to lead the Tigers to within seven shots of the overall team lead in stroke play.
The USC Trojans were one of only two clubs in the 30-team field to break par on the day as they fired a 3-under par 285 to move up two spots from third place into the lead with a two-day total of 2-under 574. Illinois is just three shots back in second place at 1-over par 577, while the Tigers find themselves in a tie for third place with SEC rival Georgia at 5-over par 581 for the championship.
Following in a tie for fifth place overall are Vanderbilt and South Florida with matching scores of 9-over 585 for 36 holes, while Georgia Tech trails in seventh place at 12-over par 588, San Diego State and TCU follow in an eighth-place tie at 13-over par 589 and No. 1-ranked and No. 1-seeded Florida State rounds out the Top 10 of the team standings in 10th place with a score of 14-over par 590 following Saturday’s competition.
Each of the 30 teams in the field at this year’s NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships are looking to enter the Top 15 of the team standings after 54 holes to earn a spot in the fourth and final round of stroke play to determine the eight-team field advancing to the match play tournament for the national championship.
LSU’s All-SEC duo fired itself to within striking distance of the NCAA individual title with their performance Saturday as Wright emerged from the second round just three shots off the pace in third place and Pierce followed only five shots off the top spot of the leaderboard in a tie for sixth place after equaling their first-round efforts. Wright has carded consecutive rounds of 2-under par 70 for his two-day total of 4-under par 140 to lead the way for the Tigers, while Pierce has posted back-to-back rounds of 1-under par 71 to follow his junior teammate on the leaderboard.
Wright dropped to 3-under par for the day after picking up birdies at the par-five third, par-four fifth and par-five 13th holes before giving a shot back with a bogey at the par-five 17th hole late in the round. With his two rounds of 70, Wright has positioned himself for a title challenge as he looks to become just the fourth LSU Tiger to be crowned the NCAA individual champion in history.
“I hit the ball pretty well both rounds, and I’ve made some birdie putts. It’s pretty easy going.” Wright said after his round. “It gave me confidence because I played well yesterday. I feel like I can take down this course. I’m hitting the driver well, that’s a big part of this course. If you can hit the driver well down the fairway, you have shorter irons in and it’s all good.
“I feel really confident playing this course, and I feel like I can do it. Driving really isn’t an issue, I mean, the bunkers are easy to hit out of even if you do get in a fairway bunker. The greens are tough, they are fast and under laid. You’ve got to miss in the right places, but I’ve been doing that and if I keep doing that I’ll be alright.”
Pierce also put himself squarely in contention with a second-straight 71 to join Wright in the Top 10 of the individual leaderboard following Saturday’s action. He turned at 2-under par for the day with birdies at the par-four first as well as holes No. 3 and No. 5 around a bogey at the par-four second. He fell back to even-par with bogeys at par-three 14th and par-four 15th holes, but returned to red figures with a birdie at No. 17.
Also posting counting scores for the Tigers were senior All-American Ben Taylor and sophomore All-SEC performer Eric Ricard as they holed out matching 2-over 74s for a team score of 1-over par 289.
Ricard cracked the Top 30 of the individual leaderboard following Saturday’s action as he followed his even-par 72 on Friday with a 2-over 74 on Saturday to tie for 30th place at 2-over par 146 with potentially two rounds to play in the stroke-play competition to crown the NCAA’s individual champion. Taylor wrapped up the second round in a tie for 94th place at 9-over par 153 for 36 holes.
In his final NCAA Championship as an LSU Tiger, senior Stewart Jolly has posted back-to-back rounds of 10-over 82 to head into Sunday’s third round of stroke play in 155th place overall at 20-over par 164 for the week.
SMU’s Bryson Dechambeau is two shots clear of the field on the individual leaderboard after firing rounds of 2-under 70 on Friday and 5-under 67 on Saturday for a leading two-day total of 7-under 137. After tying for a first-round lead following Friday’s opener, Illinois’ Thomas Detry dropped into second place at 5-under 139 for the championship with a round of 1-under 71 on Saturday afternoon. Wright is just three shots back of the leader in third at 4-under 140, while Pierce is five shots back in a tie for sixth at 2-under 142.
The Tigers will feature in the first afternoon wave off the front nine as they are paired with South Florida and Vanderbilt in Sunday’s third round and will tee off beginning at 11:20 a.m. CT. Fans can follow the Tigers for the remainder of this year’s NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships with live scoring available online at http://www.ncaasports.com.
NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS – SECOND ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 576)
1. Southern California 289-285 – 574 -2; 2. Illinois 286-291 – 577 +1; T3. LSU 292-289 – 581 +5; T3. Georgia 288-293 – 581 +5; T5. South Florida 294-291 – 585 +9; T5. Vanderbilt 301-284 – 585 +9; 7. Georgia Tech 293-295 – 588 +12; T8. San Diego State 290-299 – 589 +13; T8. TCU 296-293 – 589 +13; 10. Florida State 298-292 – 590 +14; 11. Auburn 301-290 – 591 +15; 12. Oklahoma State 298-294 – 592 +16; 13. Charlotte 298-295 – 593 +17; T14. Oregon 300-294 – 594 +18; T14. Texas 294-300 – 594 +18; T14. Virginia 300-294 – 594 +18; 17. Washington 301-294 – 595 +19; 18. UNLV 302-294 – 596 +20; 19. UCLA 294-304 – 598 +22; T20. SMU 296-303 – 599 +23; T20. South Carolina 301-298 – 599 +23; 22. UAB 308-292 – 600 +24; 23. Florida 293-309 – 602 +26; 24. Arizona State 299-306 – 605 +29; 25. Duke 297-309 – 606 +30; 26. Stanford 310-297 – 607 +31; 27. Texas Tech 304-305 – 609 +33; 28. Oklahoma 312-299 – 611 +35; 29. Houston 301-312 – 613 +37; 30. Clemson 306-309 – 615 +39.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 144)
1. Bryson Dechambeau, SMU, 70-67 – 137 -7; 2. Thomas Detry, Illinois, 68-71 – 139 -5; 3. Zach Wright, LSU, 70-70 – 140 -2; T4. Paul Dunne, UAB, 72-69 – 141 -3; T4. Sean Crocker, Southern California, 73-68 – 141 -3; T6. Brandon Pierce, LSU, 71-71 – 142 -2; T6. Dylan Meyer, Illinois, 72-70 – 142 -2; T6. Cheng-Tsung Pan, Washington, 72-70 – 142 -2; T6. Zachary Olsen, Oklahoma State, 71-71 – 142 -2; T6. Rico Hoey, Southern California, 70-72 – 142 -2; T6. Zach Healy, Georgia, 70-72 – 142 -2.
LSU SCORES
3. Zach Wright, 70-70 – 140 -4
T6. Brandon Pierce, 71-71 – 142 -2
T30. Eric Ricard, 72-74 – 146 +2
T94. Ben Taylor, 79-74 – 153 +9
155. Stewart Jolly, 82-82 – 164 +20