TOLEDO, Ohio – Billy Horschel of Florida had a second-round, 3-under-par 68 and the Gators improved 23 shots on the second day of the rain-delayed 112th NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships at historic Inverness Club.
Due to poor weather conditions, Wednesday’s second round was delayed by rain for 4½ hours. Fifteen of the teams were still on the course when play was suspended at 9 p.m. ET. Those teams were to return to the par-71, 7,255-yard course at 6:45 a.m. to complete their rounds, with the final round scheduled to start at 10 a.m.
Florida, the Southwest Regional champion, followed up a round of 310, which left the Gators tied for 29th in the 30-team event, with a 3-over 287. Of the 15 teams that had finished their rounds, Florida was 13th with a 597 total that trailed Oklahoma State by 29 shots.
The Gators will need some help from other teams and also another positive round Thursday if they hope to move into the Top 8, which qualifies them for match-play team championship that features quarterfinal and semifinal matches Friday and Saturday’s championship match at 10 a.m.
“We obviously played much better today,” said Florida head coach Buddy Alexander. “The weather wasn’t cooperating at all and we had to wait out a long delay but we came close to turning in a very good score.”
Horschel returned to form a day after shooting a six-over par 77 in his first official round on the Donald Ross original layout that has hosted three U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships and one U.S. Amateur tournament. Horschel finished with four straight birdies and carded a three-under 68 on Wednesday. He has a 54-hole total of 144 (+2).
Also making major improvements after day one were junior Tim McKenney and senior Will Strickler. McKenney improved by eight strokes and Strickler improved by seven shots as both players finished with one-over 72s in the second round. Strickler has a two-day total of nine-over par 151 while McKenney is just one shot behind with a 152 (+10).
Junior Tyson Alexander completed the scoring for the Gators with a four-over 75. Alexander scattered five birdies throughout his round and has a total of 152 (+10) for the tournament.
Senior Toby Ragland shot a nine-over 80 and has a total of 158 (+16) heading into the final round of stroke play.
“We had another typical start with some early bogeys,” coach Alexander continued. “We righted the ship in the middle of the round but didn’t play too well on the back nine, with the exception of Billy who had four straight birdies.”
NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS
TOLEDO, Ohio – Standings during Wednesday’s rain-delayed second round of the 112th NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships at the par-71, 7,255-yard Inverness Club. Play was suspended at 9 p.m. ET with the second round to be concluded Thursday beginning at 6:45 a.m. The third round is expected to start around 10 am.
TEAM
1. OKLAHOMA STATE 568 (288-280) (E) (T10 Morgan Hoffmann 72-69—141, T10 Trent Leon 71-70—141, T16 Rickie Fowler 72-70—142, T35 Peter Uihlein 73-72—145, T35 Kevin Tway 74-71—145)
2. GEORGIA 573 (288-285) (+5) (T2 Russell Henley 71-67—138, T16 Brian Harman 71-71—142, T54 Harris English 73-74—147, T102 Hudson Swafford 73-78—151, T119 Adam Mitchell 79-73—152)
3. TEXAS A&M 574 (298-276) (+6) (5 Bronson Burgoon 72-67—139, T19 Conrad Shindler 75-68—143, T23 John Hurley 75-69—144, T61 Andrea Pavan 76-72—148, T119 Matt Van Zandt 76-76—152)
4. ARIZONA STATE 575 (294-281) (+7) (T6 Scott Pinckney 73-67—140, T10 Jesper Kennegard 72-69—141, T44 Chan Kim 75-71—146, T85 Stephan Gross 76-74—150, T127 Knut Borsheim 74-69—153)
5. WASHINGTON 579 (293-286) (+11) (T6 Nick Taylor 70-70—140, T23 Darren Wallace 72-72—144, T54 Richard Lee 76-71—147, T61 Chris Killmer 75-73—148, T127 Tze Huang Choo 77-76—153)
6. ARKANSAS 580 (297-283) (+12) (T23 Ethan Tracy 76-68—144, T35 Andrew Landry 75-70—145, T54 David Lingmerth 75-72—147, T73 Jamie Marshall 71-78—149, T85 Jason Cuthbertson 77-73—150)
7. TENNESSEE 583 (294-289) (+15) (T10 David Holmes 70-71—141, T35 Robin Wingardh 73-72—145, T61 Chris Paisley 75-73—148, T73 Darren Renwick 76-73—149, T150 Garrick Porteous 77-82—159)
T8. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 586 (305-281) (+18) (T23 Tom Glissmeyer 74-70—144, T23 Matthew Giles 74-70—144, T73 Tim Sluiter 79-70—149, T85 Steve Lim 78-72—150, T119 Ryan Linton 81-71—152)
T8. GEORGIA TECH 586 (301-285) (+18) (T10 Cameron Tringale 74-67—141, T23 Chesson Hadley 72-72—144, T85 John Tyler Griffin 76-74—150, T102 David Dragoo 79-72—151, T142 James White 79-77—156)
T8. ALABAMA 586 (298-288) (+18) (T23 Matthew Swan 73-71—144, T61 Matt Hughes 77-71—148, T73 Spencer Cole 75-74—149, T73 Hunter Hamrick 73-76—149, T150 Bud Cauley 87-72—159)
11. ILLINOIS 590 (299-291) (+22) (T19 Scott Langley 69-74—143, T54 Chris DeForest 77-70—147, T85 Matt Hoffman 77-73—150, T102 Luke Guthrie 76-75—151, T142 Zach Barlow 81-74—155)
12. SOUTH CAROLINA 591 (305-286) (+23) (T19 Mark Silvers II 74-69—143, T44 Wesley Bryan 76-70—146, T61 George Bryan IV 76-72—148, T142 Patrick Rada 79-77—156, T150 Sam Braver 84-75—159)
13. FLORIDA 597 (310-287) (+29) (T26 Billy Horschel 76-68—144, T110 Will Strickler 79-72—151, T122 Tim McKenney 80-72—152, T122 Tyson Alexander 77-75—152, T149 Toby Ragland 78-80—158)
14. UCLA 601 (306-295) (+33) (T53 Philip Francis 70-77—147, T81 Erik Flores 80-69—149, T94 Gregor Main 77-73—150, 148 Alex Kim 81-76—157, T151 Connor Driscoll 79-80—159)
15. STANFORD 603 (305-298) (+35) (T16 Steve Ziegler 73-69—142, T110 Daniel Lim 79-72—151, T139 Dodge Kemmer 76-79—155, T142 Sibwan Kim 77-79—156, T151 David Chung 81-78—159)
Did not finish
Relationship to par when play was suspended for the day:
(+6) MICHIGAN (296) (T2 Alexander Sitompul -4, T6 Lion Kim -2, T61 Bill Rankin +6, T102 Matt Thompson +9, T133 Nick Pumford +12)
(+14) DUKE (297) (T6 Michael Quagliano -2, T35 Clark Klaasen +3, T44 Adam Long +4, T102 Matthew Pierce +9, T133 Wes Roach +12)
(+15) UCF (300) (T23 Brad Schneider +2, T23 Blayne Barber +2, T61 Simon Ward +6, T85 David Johnson +8, T119 Devin Spies +10)
(+16) SAN DIEGO (293) (1 Alex Ching -6, T73 Blake Trimble +7, T85 Ian Coffman +8, T102 Jason Shano +9, T127 Gunner Wiebe +11)
(+16) TEXAS CHRISTIAN (299) (T10 Tom Hoge -1, T44 James Sacheck +4, T61 Travis Woolf +6, T73 Johan de Beer +7, T142 Scott Roudebush +14)
(+19) OHIO STATE (294) (T35 Brad Wright +3, T44 Vaughn Snyder +4, T73 Brad Smith +7, T85 Bo Hoag +8, T127 Michael Cress +11)
(+20) CHATTANOOGA (292) (T23 Fredrik Ovicker +2, T61 Jonathan Hodge +6, T73 Stephan Jaeger +7, T85 Derek Rende +8, T119 Ben Rickett +10)
(+21) IOWA (301) (T35 Vince India +3, T61 Barrett Kelpin +6, T61 Brad Hopfinger +6, T73 Cole Peevler +7, T133 Chris Brant +12)
(+22) NORTHWESTERN (298) (T35 Jonathan Bowers +3, T44 Eric Chun +4, T85 Josh Dupont +8, T102 Sam Chien +9, T142 David Lipsky +14)
(+24) TEXAS TECH (303) (T35 Chris Ward +3, T73 Nils Floren +7, T85 Santiago Rivas +8, T85 Garrett Merrell +8, T102 Brian Scherer +9)
(+27) OREGON (306) (T44 Daniel Miernicki +4, T54 Eugene Wong +5, T102 Andrew Vijarro +9, T127 Isaiah Telles +11, T137 Robbie Ziegler +13)
(+29) VIRGINIA (306) (T61 Ben Kobles +6, T85 Conrad von Borsig +8, T102 Bruce Woodall +9, T102 Will Collins +9, T102 Kyle Stough +9)
(+30) WAKE FOREST (302) (T44 Daniel Meggs +4, T85 Lee Bedford +8, T110 Dustin Groves +9, T110 Travis Wadkins +9, T133 Brendan Gielow +12)
(+38) ARIZONA (310) (T54 Rich Saferian +5, T132 Tarquin MacManus +9, T127 Jonathan Khan +11, T142 Philip Bagdale +14, 155 Tyler Neal +18)
(+38) TEXAS (308) (T44 Lance Lopez +4, T85 Dylan Frittelli +8, T137 Bobby Hudson +13, T137 Donald Constable +13, 156 Charlie Holland +24)