Wake Forest University
Gary Koch Invitational
Men's Golf Survives Up-and-Down Day At Gary Koch Invitational
4/7/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
TAMPA, Fla. - Senior Lee Bedford shot rounds of 70-72 and the Wake Forest men's golf team survived a tough couple of rounds on the opening day of the Gary Koch Invitational in Tampa, Fla.
Wake Forest carded an opening round 304 and then came back with a 300 in the afternoon. The Deacs are 28-over for the event and in 12th place.
Overnight on Friday, freshman Cyrus Stewart became ill and would not be able to play this weekend. So the Demon Deacons were forced to play the first round Saturday morning with just four players. Senior Justin Bryant received a call in the middle of the night and was able to catch an early morning flight to Tampa to join the team. He made it just in time for the second round.
Bedford made four birdies in his morning round of 2-under 70 and was in a tie for third place. He then bogeyed his second hole in the afternoon to fall to 1-under for the day and that was where he made the turn. On the back nine, the All-American made three-straight birdies on holes 11 through 13 and then another at No. 16 to get to 5-under for the tournament. But a bogey at No. 17 and a double-bogey at No. 18 left Bedford with an even-par 72. He starts the final round at 2-under par and tied for ninth.
Fresh-off the plane and seeing the Old Memorial Golf Club for the first time, Bryant got off to a predictable sluggish start. He was 5-over par through the first three holes. But he settled-in and would play a remarkable final 15 holes. Bryant made 13 pars and a pair of birdies to post a round of 3-over 75.
Sophomore Thomas Birdsey made a total of seven birdies on the day and finished with a pair of 74s. He made the turn in the afternoon at 6-over par for the day but countered a pair of bogeys on the back nine with four birdies to come home in 2-under 34. Birdsey will start the final round in a tie for 32nd at 4-over par.
Juniors Charlie Harrison and Evan Beck both had tough days on Saturday. Harrison posted rounds of 76-79 and is tied for 64th while Beck finished with rounds of 84 and 85.
North Florida got four even-par rounds in the morning for an opening 288 but then got four under-par rounds in the afternoon and posted a 17-under 271. UNF holds a 14-shot lead over Georgia Tech at 17-under par. The Yellow Jackets are the only other team in the field under-par at -3.
North Florida also has the top the individuals on the leaderboard led by Joey Petronio who shot rounds of 72-66 and is at 6-under par. Kevin Phelan is at 5-under par while Sean Dale is 4-under par.
The Demon Deacons are set to begin at the final round Sunday morning at 8:05 a.m. off the 10th tee with UNC Greensboro and South Florida. Golfstat.com will have live scoring of the final round.
| Wake Forest | 304 | 300 | 604 | +28 | 12th |
| Lee Bedford | 70 | 72 | 142 | -2 | t-9th |
| Thomas Birdsey | 74 | 74 | 148 | +4 | t-32nd |
| Charlie Harrison | 76 | 79 | 155 | +11 | t-64th |
| Evan Beck | 84 | 85 | 169 | +25 | 77th |
| Justin Bryant | wd | 75 | 75 |
Players Mentioned
