Deacons Move Up To Sixth At NCAA Golf Championships
5/28/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
May 28, 2003
STILLWATER, Okla. - The Wake Forest men's golf team has moved up three spots in the standings and is in sixth place at the halfway point of the NCAA Championships, held at the par 72, 7,301-yard Karsten Creek Golf Club.
The Demon Deacons turned in an 18-over 306 on Wednesday, two strokes higher than yesterday's opening round.
The course continued to wreak havoc with the nation's top teams, as UCLA turned in a seven-over 295 and the rest of the field was 12-over or higher on Wednesday. The Bruins lead the field at 22-over for the tournament. Host Oklahoma State is one stroke back at +23, while Clemson is third at 25-over.
Florida and Auburn are tied for fourth at +26. Wake Forest, at 34-over, is 12 strokes back of the leader.
Southern Cal trails the Deacons by one stroke, while UNLV is eighth at +37. Three teams are tied for ninth at 38-over - Arizona State, Washington and defending champion Minnesota.
In the individual race, just six players posted scores under par, and none better than two-under. A total of 156 golfers are competing. Wednesday's stroke average for the field came out to 78.95, slightly higher than the opening-round average of 78.49.
"It's scary that we shoot 18-over and move up three spots in the standings" said head coach Jerry Haas. "With 22-over leading this, we're obviously not out of it. That's just the kind of course it is."
Senior Brent Wanner matched his opening-round 75 and is currently the Deacs' top player in the standings, tied for 20th with a six-over 150. Wanner is nine strokes back of field leader Lee Williams of Auburn, who followed up his opening-round 69 with a 72.
The back of the Deacon lineup turned in solid performances on Wednesday. Senior Chad Wilfong, after an opening-round 79, fired a team-best two-over 74. Senior Cortland Lowe followed up his 74 from Tuesday with a 77. Lowe sits in 24th at seven-over par, while Wilfong is 38th at nine-over.
Senior Chris Yoder carded an 80 and is currently 84th at 14-over, while junior Bill Haas struggled on Wednesday, double-bogeying on three holes and finishing with an 82. He is 97th at 15-over par.
"To a man, we're certainly disappointed in what we shot today," Haas said. "But if you look at how we improved on certain holes - we were two-under on 17 after shooting six-over yesterday, and even on No. 6 after going 5-over in the first round - every little bit helps. There are still two more days."
Wake Forest will tee off beginning at 12:18 tomorrow afternoon from the front nine. The Deacs will be paired with Florida and Auburn on Thursday. The NCAA Championships consist of all 30 teams playing 72 holes, 18 each day.
Real-time scoring updates and full results are available at www.golfstatlive.com.
NCAA Championships
May 27-30, 2003
Karsten Creek GC (par 72, 7,301 yards)
WFU Results After Two Rounds To Par Strokes Off Lead
6 Team 304-306 +34 12
T20 Brent Wanner 75-75 +6 9
T24 Cortland Lowe 74-77 +7 10
T87 Chad Wilfong 79-74 +9 12
T84 Chris Yoder 78-80 +14 17
T97 Bill Haas 77-82 +15 18
Full leaderboards available at www.golfstatlive.com.