Matty Dodd-Berry Posts Even Par 72 To Lead Tigers In Second Round Of NCAA Golf Championships

(UPDATED WITH COMPLETE STANDINGS FROM DAY 2)

CARLSBAD, California – Senior Matty Dodd-Berry led LSU here Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Men’s Golf Division I Championship with a solid even par round of 72 at the OMNI La Costa Spa and Resort North Course.

The Tigers improved by 10 shots on their opening round, playing in sunny and less windy conditions for the first 10 holes, posting a 5-over par round of 293 to stand at 20-over par 596 through 36 holes.

The Tigers are 17 shots off the number needed to make the top 15 cut after Sunday’s third round with LSU in T26. The cutline as the round ended at 3-over par.

“The guys, I thought played very hard today, really tried to get after it,” said second-year Coach Jake Amos, taking his first Tiger team to the national championship. “When you struggle to day before, and you have a quick turnaround, it’s really tough mentally to start talking good about your game and feeling good about your game, and we had a little bit of a hangover, obviously, from how our games felt from (Friday).

“Yet the really little details, like I said jokingly, one or two over and you flip that to one or two under and you’re right in it again. It’s really small details, but I just told the guys they fought really hard. They didn’t have it. They are just not quite with it. But they were really professional and they did me proud today.

Dodd-Berry, who is from Wirral, England, is wrapping up his college career which started under Coach Amos at East Tennessee State.

He had three front-nine birdies in his even par round and posted 2-under 34 on the first nine holes.

“He played really nice,” said Coach Amos. “He, like the rest of the guys, is just not getting a lot out of his game right now. He probably played a little bit better (than even). For a senior, he’s got a lot of experience. He played really nice. I think he’ll have another good day (Sunday).”

The layout for round two equaled 7,393, some 130 yards less than Friday’s opening round over the par 72 layout in its third straight year as the site of the men’s and women’s golf championship.

LSU also had a 1-over 73 from Jay Mendell, with two birdies, including on the par 5 18th hole, while Arni Sveinsson and Noah McWilliams each shot 2-over 74. McWilliams had three birdies on his card. Dan Hayes posted a 3-over 75.

The Tigers will have a late afternoon tee time here at La Costa as the skies have cleared more and more over the weekend and temperatures have reached into the low 70s. Coach Amos has a word for his team heading into Sunday’s play.

“I was like (Sunday), if you feel good, send it, and gave a great day, and see what we can shoot,” said Coach Amos. “But don’t chase anything. Just be a real pro and see how many teams we can beat and see where it gets us. I don’t want them to try and shoot a crazy number and end of shooting a crazy high number. That doesn’t do anyone any good.”

At the top of the team leaderboard is No. 1 Auburn after a 16-under par round on Saturday, they have the 36-hole lead at 20-under par 556. They are 12-shots ahead of No. 3 Texas and No. 11 Vanderbilt at 12-under 564. Both teams have shot even rounds of 1-under Friday and 11-under on Saturday.

First round leader UCLA posted 1-over par 289 and after two rounds is tied for fourth with Oklahoma State at 7-under 569.

Filip Jakubcik of Arizona is the individual leader after a second round 66 to stand at 10-under par 204 through 36 holes. William Jennings of Alabama and Malan Potgieter of Louisiana are tied for second at 8-under 136. Potgieter is believed to have set an NCAA record on Saturday as he is now through 91 holes without a bogey, dating back to the final hole of the Sun Belt Conference tournament.

LSU will tee off at 1:07 p.m. PT (3:07 p.m. CT) and will start on the more difficult back nine for the third round.

Live scoring Sunday will be available at Scoreboard.clippd.com and Babygrande will be streaming on GolfChannel.com at 12:30 p.m. PT.

NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship
Carlsbad, California – OMNI La Costa Resort & Spa North Course
Second Round Team Results (Par 288-576)
(Scoreboard rankings in parenthesis)
1 Auburn (No. 1) – 284-272 – 556 -20
T2 Texas (No. 3) – 287-277 -564 -12
T2 Vanderbilt (No. 11) – 287-277 – 564 -12
T4 UCLA (No. 30) – 280-289 – 569 -7
T4 Oklahoma State (No. 5) 295-274 – 569 -7
T6 Duke (No. 29) – 286-281 – 572 -4
T6 Virginia (No. 4) – 288-284 – 572 -4
T6 Arizona (No. 12) – 287-285 – 572 -4
T9 Pepperdine (No. 14) – 285-290 – 575 -1
T9 North Carolina (No. 10) – 287-288 – 575 -1
11 Oklahoma (No. 16) – 292-284 – 576 E
T12 Stanford (No. 15) – 291-286 – 577 +1
T12 San Diego (No. 42) – 286-291 – 577 +1
T14 Chattanooga — 294-285 – 579 +3
T14 Tennessee (No. 18) – 292-287 – 579 +3
16 Florida (No. 2) – 291-290 – 581 +5
17 Arkansas State (No. 39) – 295-287 – 582 +6
18 Georgia (No. 23) – 292-291 – 583 +7
19 Arizona State (No. 13) – 291-293 – 584 +8
T20 Arkansas (No. 6) – 288-298 – 586 +10
T20 BYU (No. 22) – 296-290 – 586 +10
22 Texas A&M (No. 20) – 299-289 – 588 +12
23 Louisville (No. 33) – 294-296 – 590 +14
24 Purdue (No. 40) – 296-295 – 591 +15
25 Mississippi State (No. 37) – 298-294 – 592 +16
26 Memphis – 301-293 – 594 +18
T27 LSU (No. 7) – 303-293 – 596 +20
T27 Ole Miss (No. 9) – 303-293 – 596 +20
29 Southern California (No. 28) – 297-300 – 597 +21
30 Florida State (No. 26) – 307-292 – 599 +23

Individual Top 10 (Par 72-144)
1 Filip Jakubcik, Arizona – 68-66 – 134 -10
T2 William Jennings, Alabama – 66-70 – 136 – 8
T2 Malan Potgieter, Louisiana – 68-68 – 136 – 8
T4 Connor Williams, Arizona State – 66-71 –137 -7
T4 Josiah Gilbert, Auburn – 70-67 – 137 -7
T4 Jon Ed Steed, Vanderbilt – 70-67 – 137 -7
T7 Will Hartman, Vanderbilt – 70-68 – 138 -6
T7 Jackson Koivun, Auburn – 70-68 – 138 -6
T9 Baylor Larrabee, UCLA – 67-72 – 139 -5
T9 Kihei Akina, BYU – 69-70 – 139 -5
T9 Eric Lee, Oklahoma State – 71-67 – 139 -5
T9 Thomas Schmidt, Arkansas State – 72-67 – 139 -5

LSU Scores
T77 Matty Dodd-Berry — 75-72 — 147 +3
T88 Jay Mendell — 75-73 — 148 +4
T116 Dan Hayes — 76-75 — 151 +7
T116 Arni Sveinsson — 77–74 — 151 +7
T126 Noah McWilliams — 78-74 — 152 +8