ALPHARETTA, Ga. – LSU’s senior All-American Zach Wright continued his early-season form in Saturday’s second round at the 10th-annual United States Collegiate Championship as he broke par with a 1-under par 71 while leading the Tigers into a tie for 12th place in the event hosted by Georgia Tech this weekend at the Country Club of Georgia.
Wright, who teed off in a tie for 36th place on the leaderboard, finished as the top Tiger for the tournament through 36 holes in a tie for 22nd place with a two-day total of even-par 144 for the day.
The Tigers cut four shots off of their first-round score with a team total of 5-over par 293 during Saturday’s action to finish the afternoon in a tie for 12th place in the team standings at 14-over 590 for 36 holes. They shot a 9-over 297 from their four counting scores in Friday’s opening round at this year’s U.S. Collegiate Championship.
Wright turned at even-par for his round after canceling a pair of birdies at the par-four second and par-five ninth holes with bogeys at the par-three third and par-four fifth holes on the front nine. After going to 1-over par for the day with a bogey at the par-four 10th hole, Wright got back into red figures with birdies on two of his last three holes at the par-four 16th and par-five 18th to finish at 1-under.
The senior from Phoenix, Arizona, is off to a flying start to the campaign while positioning himself for a third top-20 finish in four starts after already earning two top-10 finishes early in the 2015 fall season.
Junior All-American Brandon Pierce nearly joined Wright in red figures for the day as he carded four birdies and four bogeys to post an even-par 72 in the second round and move 20 spots up the leaderboard and into a tie for 35th place overall at 3-over par 147 for the championship. Pierce actually turned at 3-under par for his round after making birdie on his first two and last two holes on the front nine.
Freshman Sam Burns turned in the third-lowest round of the day for the Tigers as he followed a 5-over 77 in the first round with a 1-over 73 in the second round to end the day in a tie for 58th place at 6-over par 150 for 36 holes. Adding the fourth score for the Tigers on Saturday afternoon was junior All-American Eric Ricard with a 5-over 77 to drop into a tie for 50th place at 5-over 149.
Rounding out the LSU lineup in Saturday’s second round was sophomore Blake Caldwell, who posted a round of 7-over par 79 to finish the day in a tie for 85th place in the individual standings at 13-over 157.
The Wake Forest Demon Deacons turned their two-shot deficit to start the day into a one-shot lead as they posted a 3-under par 285 on Saturday for a 36-hole team score of 7-under par 569. Auburn, which finished up Friday’s first round in third place, moved up one spot into second place and one shot behind Wake Forest with a matching round of 3-under 285 on the day and two-day total of 6-under par 570.
First-round leader Florida State followed its 6-under 282 in the first round with a 2-over 290 in the second round to fall back into third place in the team standings and three shots behind Wake Forest at 4-under par 572. Rounding out the Top 5 of the team standings were East Tennessee State in fourth place at 1-under par 575 and Clemson and Stanford in a tie for fifth place at 3-over par 579.
Auburn’s Will Long matched his 4-under 68 from the first round with a 4-under 68 in the second round to take a one-shot lead over Wake Forest’s Cameron Young in the individual standings with his two-round score of 8-under par 136. Virginia’s Derek Bard, the defending champion and first-round leader, dropped into third place at 6-under 138 after posting an even-par 72 in Saturday’s second round.
The Tigers are paired with Georgia Tech and Southern California in Sunday’s final round at the 10th-annual United States Collegiate Championship as they will tee off in the final wave off the back nine beginning at 11:25 a.m. CT. Golfstat will provide the live scoring of the final round of this year’s championship as fans can follow the Tigers in action by going online to http://golfstat.com.
UNITED STATES COLLEGIATE CHAMPIONSHIP – SECOND ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 576)
1. Wake Forest 284-285 – 569 -7; 2. Auburn 285-285 – 570 -6; 3. Florida State 282-290 – 572 -4; 4. East Tennessee State 293-282 – 575 -1; T5. Clemson 286-293 – 579 +3; T5. Stanford 290-289 – 579 +3; T7. Virginia 283-298 – 581 +5; T7. Oklahoma 289-292 – 581 +5; 9. Texas 292-292 – 584 +8; T10. Georgia Tech 286-299 – 585 +9; T10. Southern California 298-287 – 585 +9; T12. LSU 297-293 – 590 +14; T12. Oklahoma State 298-292 – 590 +14; 14. Kent State 295-297 – 592 +16; 15. UCLA 300-293 – 593 +17; 16. Ole Miss 292-303 – 595 +19; 17. Iowa 303-293 – 596 +20.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 144)
1. Will Long, Auburn, 68-68 – 136 -8; 2. Cameron Young, Wake Forest, 68-69 – 137 -7; 3. Derek Bard, Virginia, 66-72 – 138 -6; 4. Gudmundur Kristjansson, East Tennessee State, 71-68 – 139 -5; T5. Rico Hoey, Southern California, 70-70 – 140 -4; T5. Jack Maguire, Florida State, 69-71 – 140 -4; T5. Jonathan Garrick, UCLA, 72-68 – 140 -4; T8. Paul McBride, Wake Forest, 70-71 – 141 -3; T8. Cristobal Del Solar, Florida State, 70-71 – 141 -3; T8. Beau Hossler, Texas, 70-71 – 141 -3.
LSU SCORES
T22. Zach Wright, 73-71 – 144 E
T35. Brandon Pierce, 75-72 – 147 +3
T50. Eric Ricard, 72-77 – 149 +5
T58. Sam Burns, 77-73 – 160 +6
T85. Blake Caldwell, 78-79 – 157 +13