SMU
NCAA Regionals
Mustangs In Third After Second Day At The NCAA Regionals
May 16 | Men's Golf
May 16, 2014
SAN ANTONIO (SMU) - The SMU Mustangs posted the second-lowest team score of the day on Friday to move to six-under par, good for third place on the leaderboard heading into the final round at the NCAA San Antonio Regional at the Briggs Ranch Golf Club.
Senior Harry Higgs and freshman Andrew Buchanan paced the Ponies in the second round, with each player carding three-under 69s. Higgs began the day with four birdies over his first seven holes and totaled six on the day. Buchanan registered back-to-back birdies on holes five and six, and scored under-par on both the front and back nine. Buchanan is now tied for 13th overall and Higgs is tied for 18th.
Sophomore Bryson Dechambeau shot a one-under 71 to move to six-under par himself, which puts him second overall in the tournament. Sophomore Ryan Burgess is tied for 23rd at one-over par, while Austin Smotherman finished his second round with a three-over 76.
Buchanan, coming off a tough trip at the conference tournament, really impressed SMU head coach Josh Gregory with his strong play on Friday.
"I'm so proud of Andrew after struggling at conference," Gregory said. "He has worked hard, made a few changes and it's paid off."
SMU is eight strokes ahead of three teams that are tied for the fifth and final advancing position for the NCAA Championships. No. 6 Georgia holds a two-stroke lead over No. 19 Vanderbilt and a four-stroke edge over SMU. Georgia State sits in fourth at plus-one, while No. 18 UCLA, TCU and Georgia Southern are tied for fifth at two-over. Charleston, No. 7 UCF and VCU round out the top 10. TCU's Julien Brun is currently the individual leader at minus-10 going into Saturday.
"We played very solid today and cleaned up the mistakes we made yesterday," Gregory said. "We are making plenty of birdies; we just have to avoid careless mistakes like we made yesterday. We got huge rounds from Andrew and Harry."
With just four shots separating SMU from first place, the team is confident it can compete for a Regional championship tomorrow.
"Tomorrow we've got a great chance to win and that's where you want to be," Gregory said.
SMU will tee off on hole one with Georgia and Vanderbilt beginning tomorrow at 8:40 a.m.
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| Course:Briggs Ranch Golf Course: NCAA DI Men's Golf Regional Par 72 - 7247 Yards | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| current position | team | scoring | rounds | total score | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| to par | thru | today | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 |
| -10 | F | -3 | 281 | 285 | 566 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 |
| -8 | F | -15 | 295 | 273 | 568 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 |
| -6 | F | -6 | 288 | 282 | 570 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 |
| +1 | F | -3 | 292 | 285 | 577 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| T5 |
| +2 | F | E | 290 | 288 | 578 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| T5 |
| +2 | F | E | 290 | 288 | 578 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| T5 |
| +2 | F | -1 | 291 | 287 | 578 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 |
| +5 | F | +8 | 285 | 296 | 581 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9 |
| +6 | F | +6 | 288 | 294 | 582 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10 |
| +13 | F | +1 | 300 | 289 | 589 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| T11 |
| +15 | F | +3 | 300 | 291 | 591 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| T11 |
| +15 | F | +7 | 296 | 295 | 591 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 13 |
| +26 | F | +15 | 299 | 303 | 602 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| player | rounds | thru current round | |
| 1 | 2 | ||
| Bryson Dechambeau | -5 | -1 | F |
| Harry Higgs | +3 | -3 | F |
| Andrew Buchanan | +2 | -3 | F |
| Ryan Burgess | E | +1 | F |
| Austin Smotherman | +5 | +3 | F |
