JACKSON, Miss. – Florida golfers Tim McKenney and Tyson Alexander hold sole custody of first and second place, respectively, after 36 holes in the BancorpSouth Intercollegiate at the Reunion Golf & Country Club. Separated by a shot, McKenney (10-under 134) and Alexander (9-under 135) have led No. 10 Florida into the 36-hole lead at 15-under 561 with 18 holes to play Tuesday. Florida’s first-round score Monday of 16-under 272 was the lowest for any round this season.
Both McKenney and Alexander boasted career-low round scores in their first round. McKenney carded a 9-under 63 on the par-72, 7,305-yard Reunion course and Alexander carded an eight-under 64. Prior to Monday’s round, their career low scores were 66. Both carded rounds of 1-under 71 in the afternoon.
“I think we had a couple seniors that decided they were tired of finishing in the middle of the field,” Florida head coach Buddy Alexander said. “It’s been a year of a lot of firsts and I certainly can’t remember having a 63 and 64 in the same round, which was special. However we didn’t play great this afternoon and the rest of the play was average. This is not a terribly difficult golf course; the greens are in great shape. Two good rounds does not make a tournament and we have a lot more golf to play but we got off to a much better start than we have been.”
McKenney’s 36-hole total of 134 which leads the field is a career best. He collected nine birdies in his first round, including four straight, and four more in his second round.
Alexander’s 36-hole total of 135 also is a career-best total. He had a strong start to his first round, making two birdies and an eagle in his first four holes. He added one more birdie to enter the turn at five-under before going on to make four more birdies. Alexander concluded his first round with a bogey on 17 to finish at eight-under par. He carded one birdie, two bogeys and the second of his two eagles on the day in his second round.
Junior Bank Vongvanij is currently tied for 15th place with a two-round score of 144 after a pair of even-par rounds of 72. Vongvanij got off to a tough start in his first round, making bogeys on three of his first four holes, but finished with six birdies over his final 14 holes, five of them in a row. He had two birdies in his afternoon round of 72.
Freshman Phillip Choi was tied for 44th at 149 after rounds of 73 and 76. Freshman Tommy Mou was tied for 50th at 150 after a pair of 75 rounds.
THE BANCORPSOUTH INTERCOLLEGIATE
At par-72, 7,305-yard Reunion Golf and Country Club, Jackson, Miss.
TEAM SCORES: 1. (10) Florida 561 (272-289) (-15); 2. (44) Mississippi 566 (281-285) (-10); 3. (23) North Florida 568 (286-282) (-8); 4. (102) Louisiana Tech 575 (286-289) (-1); T5. (106) Memphis 580 (293-287) (+4) and (98) Southern Mississippi 580 (287-293) (+4); 7. (62) Vanderbilt 585 (291-294) (+8); 8. (50) UCF 584 (292-292) (+9); T9. (113) UAB 586 (295-291) (+10) and (52) Rice 586 (298-288) (+10); 11. (89) South Alabama 590 (300-290) (+14); 12. (93) Santa Clara 593 (290-303) (+17); 13. (39) Southeastern Louisiana 596 (299-297) (+19); 14. (114) Mississippi State 598 (299-299) (+21); 15. (258) Jackson State 617 (311-306) (+45).
TOP 10 (and ties) INDIVIDUALS: 1. (76) Tim McKenney (Florida) 134 (63-71) (-10); 2. (32) Tyson Alexander (Florida) 135 (64-71) (-9); 3. (65) Pete Kellermann (Mississippi) 139 (68-71) (-5); T4. (245) Christopher Brown (Rice) 140 (70-70) (-4) and (261) Jordan Gibb (North Florida) 140 (71-69) (-4); 6. (439) Jonathan Bale (Louisiana Tech) 141 (70-71) (-3); T7. (351) Trey DelGreco (Vanderbilt) 142 (73-69) (-2), J.C. Home (North Florida) 142 (69-73) (-2) and (115) Scott Travers (Santa Clara) 142 (69-73) (-2); T10. (59) Brandon Bunn (Memphis) 143 (71-72) (-1), (20) Sean Dale (North Florida) 143 (75-68) (-1), (315) Joe David (Mississippi) 143 (71-72) (-1), (73) Kevin Phelan (North Florida) 143 (71-72) (-1) and (199) Brad Schneider (UCF) 143 (73-70) (-1).
FLORIDA: 1. (69) Tim McKenney 134 (63-71) (-10); 2. (21) Tyson Alexander 135 (64-71) (-9); T15. (106) Bank Vongvanij 144 (72-72) (E); T44. (111) Phillip Choi 149 (73-76) (+5); T49. Tommy Mou 150 (75-75) (+6).
GOLFWEEK/SAGARIN RANKINGS
As of April 4, 2010
1. Oklahoma State; 2. Augusta State; 3. Stanford; 4. Texas A&M; 5. Washington; 6. Texas; 7 UCLA; 8. Southern California; 9. South Carolina; 10. Florida;
11. Illinois; 12. Florida State; 13. UNLV; 14. Oregon; 15. Clemson; 16. Arizona State; 17. Texas Christian; 18. Georgia; 19. Virginia; 20. Georgia Tech;
21. Alabama; 22. Texas Tech; 23. North Florida; 24. Louisiana State; 25. Oregon State; 26. Tennessee; 27. Duke; 28. California; 29. San Diego; 30. San Diego State;
31. Wake Forest; 32. East Tennessee State; 33. Chattanooga; 34. Auburn; 35. Pepperdine; 36. North Carolina State; 37. Middle Tennessee State; 38. Colorado State; 39. Southern Methodist; 40. Southeastern Louisiana;
41. Arizona; 42. Charlotte; 43. Iowa; 44. Mississippi; 45. Arkansas; 46. Fresno State; 47. Michigan; 48. Kent State; 49. Baylor; 50. UCF.