NCAA Men's Golf Championship, Day 2: Might We Have An NCAA Individual Champion In Our Midst?

What:  NCAA Men's Golf Championships

When: May 31 to June 5, 2011

Where: Karsten Creek Golf Course, Stillwater, OK

The second round of the 2011 NCAA Men's Golf Championship is now in the books, and Cal's hopes for a team championship are looking rather dim.  The Bears shot an 11-over par 299 as a team -- one shot better than Tuesday's first round result -- but fell from a tie for 14th place to a three-way tie for 16th with Florida and Michigan.  Cal trails the all-important 8th place spot (held by Texas A&M and Ohio State) by nine shots heading into Thursday's final round of stroke play, which will determine the top 8 teams to qualify for the match play round.  

Overall, after two rounds of play, Cal stands at +23 over par, a distant 26 shots behind first-place Georgia Tech.  

via cdn0.globalgolf.com

While the Bears' chances for a team championship look bleak, the same cannot be said for their chances at having the school's first-ever individual champion crowned. Cal sophomore Michael Weaver played his second solid round in a row, shooting his second straight 1-under par 71.  Weaver made five birdies on Wednesday, helping to offset a costly double bogey on the 2nd hole.  

Through two rounds, Weaver is tied for 6th and just three shots behind leader John Peterson of LSU.  Peterson shot the day's best round, a 7-under par 65, to climb from a tie for 47th after the 1st round to holding a one-shot lead heading into Thursday's final round of individual medal play.  

via golfweek.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com

Cal's Michael Weaver (in blue) surveys a shot as his playing partner and an assistant coach from USC look on.

For the second straight day, sophomore Max Homa carded the Bears' second-best round of the day.  Homa followed up his 1-over par 73 in the first round with a 2-over par 74 on Wednesday.  Homa, who like all of the Bears started his round on the 10th tee, eagled the par-5 18th hole to score an even-par first nine.  Homa stumbled coming in, however, making bogey on both the 8th and 9th holes to cost the Bears two strokes coming home.  

After carding the Bears' worst round on Tuesday, 2010 Pac-10 champion  Eric Mina rebounded with a 4-over par 76.  Mina's round was all the more impressive considering he shot 3-over par for his first three holes, with a double bogey on the 10th hole and a bogey on the 12th.  Mina eagled the par-5 14th hole to gain momentum and was able to tread water the rest of the way.  Mina's round ended up being one of the Bears' four best of the day and counted toward Cal's second-round team score.  

Freshman Ben An shot a 6-over par 78 and provided the Bears' final individual round that counted toward the second-round team score.  An improved upon the 81 he shot in the first round.  Unfortunately for the Bears, senior Stephen Hale could not repeat his first-round performance: after shooting a 3-over 75 on the first day, Hale could not get it going in Wednesday's second round, making triple bogey out of the gate at the 10th hole en route to a 9-over par 80.  

Cal resumes action on Thursday.  The Bears, along with Florida and Michigan, will tee off at 8:20 am CT (6:20 am PT).  The 54 holes of stroke play conclude Thursday, with an individual champion to be crowned after Thursday's third round.  The top eight teams will begin match play quarterfinals on Friday.  

TEAM LEADERBOARD (THROUGH TWO ROUNDS)

 

1	4 Georgia Tech	-3	F	+2	283	290	573
2	2 UCLA	-2	F	E	286	288	574
3	9 Illinois	+2	F	-1	291	287	578
4	12 Georgia	+3	F	E	291	288	579
5	3 Alabama	+4	F	+4	288	292	580
6	1 Oklahoma State	+9	F	+5	292	293	585
7	6 Augusta State	+12	F	+6	294	294	588
T8	8 Texas A&M	+14	F	+13	289	301	590
T8	27 Ohio State	+14	F	+11	291	299	590
10	14 Southern California	+16	F	+1	303	289	592
11	16 Arkansas	+18	F	+10	296	298	594
T12	15 Duke	+20	F	+5	303	293	596
T12	26 Arizona State	+20	F	+5	303	293	596
T12	13 Iowa	+20	F	+4	304	292	596
T12	7 San Diego State	+20	F	+13	295	301	596
T16	5 Florida	+23	F	+11	300	299	599
T16	18 California	+23	F	+11	300	299	599
T16	43 Michigan	+23	F	+4	307	292	599
T19	11 Texas	+24	F	+13	299	301	600
T19	10 LSU	+24	F	+6	306	294	600
21	44 Northwestern	+26	F	+8	306	296	602
22	21 San Diego	+28	F	+16	300	304	604
23	31 Kent State	+30	F	+14	304	302	606
T24	29 Tennessee	+31	F	+11	308	299	607
T24	35 Kennesaw State	+31	F	+24	295	312	607
26	Arizona	+36	F	+22	302	310	612
27	25 Oklahoma	+41	F	+16	313	304	617
28	24 North Carolina State	+42	F	+20	310	308	618
29	36 Pepperdine	+43	F	+22	309	310	619
30	Colorado State	+53	F	+34	307	322	629

 

 

INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD (THROUGH TWO OF THREE ROUNDS)

current.......start.

 

1	T47	21 John Peterson (10)	LSU	-5	F	-7	74	65	139
2	1	10 James White (10)	Georgia Tech	-4	F	+1	67	73	140
T3	T19	4 Patrick Cantlay	UCLA	-3	F	-3	72	69	141
T3	T5	30 Harris English (10)	Georgia	-3	F	-1	70	71	141
T3	T19	8 Luke Guthrie	Illinois	-3	F	-3	72	69	141
T6	T19	61 Lion Kim	Michigan	-2	F	-2	72	70	142
T6	T19	43 Gregor Main	UCLA	-2	F	-2	72	70	142
T6	2	74 Cameron Peck	Texas A&M	-2	F	+2	68	74	142
T6	T34	1 Peter Uihlein	Oklahoma State	-2	F	-3	73	69	142
T6	T9	Michael Weaver (10)	California	-2	F	-1	71	71	142
T11	T5	5 Bud Cauley	Alabama	-1	F	+1	70	73	143
T11	T9	Paul Haley (10)	Georgia Tech	-1	F	E	71	72	143
T11	T9	95 Ryan Sirman	Oklahoma	-1	F	E	71	72	143
T14	T19	Todd Baek	San Diego State	E	F	E	72	72	144
T14	T5	Austin Cook (10)	Arkansas	E	F	+2	70	74	144
T14	T19	67 Chris DeForest	Illinois	E	F	E	72	72	144
T14	T19	58 Brinson Paolini	Duke	E	F	E	72	72	144
T14	T3	14 Patrick Reed (10)	Augusta State	E	F	+3	69	75	144
T14	T3	49 J.J. Spaun	San Diego State	E	F	+3	69	75	144
T14	T34	7 Cory Whitsett	Alabama	E	F	-1	73	71	144