LA QUINTA, Calif. – LSU’s senior All-American Zach Wright carded five birdies in a bogey-free round of 5-under par 66 on Tuesday afternoon to wrap up the second round at the 16th-annual Prestige at PGA West in a three-way tie atop the leaderboard with his two-day total of 8-under par 134 in the event being held at the Greg Norman Course.
Wright ended the day in a dead heat with Pepperdine’s first-round leader Frederick Wedel and San Diego State’s Ryann Ree at 8-under par for the championship and two shots clear of the rest of the field.
After teeing off on Tuesday morning with a seven-shot lead over No. 5-ranked Stanford thanks to their 7-under 277 in Monday’s opening round, the Tigers slipped to second place in the team race behind No. 9-ranked Arizona State after posting a score of even-par 284 on the day for a 36-hole score of 7-under 561 for the championship.
The hard-charging Sun Devils turned a 10-shot deficit to the Tigers to start the day into a five-shot lead with their tournament-low 15-under par 269 on the round to climb to the top of the standings at 12-under 556 this week. Stanford dropped one spot into third place at 1-under 567 for the tournament, while No. 25-ranked San Diego State followed in fourth at 1-over 569 and No. 6-ranked Duke trailed in fifth at 2-over 570.
Wright followed his team-leading 3-under 68 on Monday with a team-best 5-under 66 on Tuesday to move two spots up the leaderboard into a three-way tie for first at the end of the day.
After opening the round with eight-straight pars, Wright turned at 1-under par after making birdie at the par-four ninth hole to dip into red figures for the first time. He then quickly dropped to 3-under par early on the back nine with back-to-back birdies at the par-four 11th and par-five 12th holes before closing strong with consecutive birdies at the par-five 16th and par-three 17th holes.
Wright is closing in on his career-low tournament score of 10-under par 206 to win the Louisiana Classics title as a freshman in the spring of 2013 while eyeing his second individual title as an LSU Tiger.
Junior teammate Brandon Pierce is nipping at his heels just three shots back in sixth place on the leaderboard at 5-under par 137 through 36 holes. Pierce carded four birdies with just one bogey for the day to finish off a 3-under 68 after opening the tournament with a 2-under 69 in Monday’s first round.
Pierce did his damage on the front nine with birdies at the par-four second, par-four third, par-four fifth and par-five eighth holes while making his only bogey of the day at the par-three seventh to make the turn at 3-under for his round. He then finished with nine pars on the back nine for a score of 3-under 68 to lead the way for the Tigers along with Wright’s 5-under 66.
Junior All-American Eric Ricard and freshmen Sam Burns and Nathan Jeansonne matched one another with counting scores of 4-over par 75 in the second round as the Tigers finished level par for the day. Ricard ended the round tied with Burns for 30th place at 3-over 145 after both opened the tournament with matching scores of 1-under 70 in Monday’s action. Jeansonne posted his second-straight round of 4-over 75 to wrap up his second round in a tie for 51st place at 8-over 150 for the championship.
While Wright ended the day in a three-way tie for the lead, Arizona State’s duo of Jon Raham and Jared duToit finished just two shots back in a tie for second place at 6-under par 136 through two rounds.
Tee times in Wednesday’s final round at the 16th-annual Prestige at PGA West are scheduled to get underway at 9:30 a.m. CT with the first wave off the front nine. The Tigers are paired with Arizona State and Stanford as they will tee off in the final wave off the front nine beginning at 11:10 a.m. Golfstat will provide live scoring of the final round as fans can follow along at http://www.golfstat.com.
16TH-ANNUAL PRESTIGE AT PGA WEST – SECOND ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORES (Par 568)
1. Arizona State 287-269 – 556 -12; 2. LSU 277-284 – 561 -7; 3. Stanford 282-285 – 567 -1; 4. San Diego State 294-275 – 569 +1; 5. Duke 288-282 – 570 +2; 6. Pepperdine 290-282 – 572 +4; 7. UC-Davis 293-284 – 577 +9; 8. Southern California 285-293 – 578 +10; 9. St. Mary’s (CA) 291-288 – 579 +11; 10. Stirling University 296-287 – 583 +15; T11. Iowa State 303-283 – 586 +18; T11. East Tennessee State 297-289 – 586 +18; 13. San Diego 300-292 – 592 +24; 14. Gonzaga 294-299 – 593 +25; 15. Stanford “B” 299-298 – 597 +29.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 142)
T1. Zach Wright, LSU, 68-66 – 134 -8; T1. Ryann Ree, San Diego State, 68-66 – 134 -8; T1. Frederick Wedel, Pepperdine, 66-68 – 134 -8; T4. Jon Rahm, Arizona State, 70-66 – 136 -6; T4. Jared duToit, Arizona State, 68-68 – 136 -6; 6. Brandon Pierce, LSU, 69-68 – 137 -5; 7. Adrian Meronk, East Tennessee State, 70-68 – 138 -4; T8. Nick Voke, Iowa State, 73-66 – 139 -3; T8. Alex Smalley, Duke, 70-69 – 139 -3; T8. Max Greyserman, Duke, 69-70 – 139 -3; T8. Rico Hoey, Southern California, 68-71 – 139 -3.
LSU SCORES
T1. Zach Wright, 68-66 – 134 -8
6. Brandon Pierce, 69-68 – 137 -5
T30. Eric Ricard, 70-75 – 145 +3
T30. Sam Burns, 70-75 – 145 +3
T51. Nathan Jeansonne, 75-75 – 150 +8