Aggies tied for eighth at NCAA golf championships
Daniels, W.Va. (May 16) - Just as it finished the final round of the South/South Central Regional Championships two weeks ago, the Cameron University men's golf team posted a solid team score early and watched as the rest of the field came back to the Aggies Tuesday during opening round play of the NCAA Division II Men's Golf Championships.
Coach Jerry Hrnciar's Aggies, playing under cold, damp conditions, turned in a team score of 296 and moved steadily up the leaderboard as the day progressed. Cameron, which was among the first groups to take the course early in the opening round, sat as low as 15th in the 20-team field early in the day before climbing into a tie for eighth place entering Wednesday's second round at the par-70 Cobb Course at The Resort at Glade Springs.
"The tough thing for us today was that we teed off this morning when it was 41 degrees and trying to rain. It was flat-out miserable conditions," Hrnciar said of his team's first round of national tournament play since 2002. "This afternoon, when some of those leaders played, the temperature was 18 to 20 degrees warmer and the wind had died down. But all the teams that played in the afternoon today will tee off early tomorrow, so hopefully it will balance out a little. We should have a good chance to move up in the second round."
Wichita Falls junior Owen Mahaffey provided the steady hand for the Aggies on Monday, turning in a solid one-over-par 71. Mahaffey carded 15 pars on the day, including seven straight midway through the round and had just two bogeys. He birdied the par-5 fifth hole before recording a bogey on the very next hole. Mahaffey then remained at even par until suffering a bogey on the par-4 14th. The effort has Mahaffey among a sizable group tied for ninth in the individual standings.
Travis Lovins rallied from five-over at the turn to finish with a 73. The Canadian, Texas, senior posted back-to-back birdies on 14 and 15, bouncing back from three bogeys and a double-bogey on the front nine and finished with four birdies for the round. Junior Matt Trammell battled illness throughout the day, but still managed to come in with a round of 74 that included two birdies.
Freshman Peter Svajlen played the front nine at one-over, but struggled to a 42 on the back side for a 78. Sophomore Cane Shumaker also had a 42 on the back nine and finished with an 81.
"The course is playing extremely hard because they moved two of the par 5s up to par 4s without taking away much of the distance," Hrnciar said. "And the Kentucky bluegrass rough they have here, when it's wet, is just really hard to get out of. It's like U.S. Open rought. But everybody's palying the same course, so you just have to deal with it."
Two-time defending national championvSouth Carolina-Aiken shot a 5-over 285 to take a three-stroke lead over California State-Bakersfield, Columbus State (Ga.) University and Florida Southern College after Tuesday's first round.
Florida Southern's Greg Koch sank five birdies and suffered just one bogey on his way to firing a 4-under-66 to take the individual lead, while USC-Aiken's 2005 individual national champion Dane Burkhart is just one stroke back after the first day of competition.
Burkhart, like Koch, had five birdies on the day. However, Burkhart suffered a pair of bogies, one on the front and one on the back nine, and trails Koch by one stroke. Koch and Burkhart are the only players to finish their rounds under par. Six golfers stand four strokes back after
shooting even-par-70's, while nine others, including USC-Aiken's Scott Brown, the top-ranked Division II player in the country, and Cameron's Mahaffey, are five shots behind at one-over-par. Brown, who was five over after the front nine, caught fire and finished the back nine with five birdies and one bogey for a very impressive 31.
Lynn (Fla.) University and Pfeiffer (N.C.), both shot a 13-over 293 and are tied for fifth place. California State-Stanislaus is seventh with a 14-over-294, followed by California State-Bernardino, Cameron and St. Mary's (Texas) University, which are all tied for eighth at 16-over-par (296).
The 2006 NCAA Division II Men's Golf Championships are being hosted by Concord (W.Va.) University and the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
This year's men's golf championship consists of 105 participants. The winning team of each region from the super regionals earned automatic berths. Along with these 10 bids, an addition three team berths were awarded to the Atlantic/Southeast super regional, three to the South/South Central super regional and four to the West/Northwest super regional. The top individual from each super regional site not on an advancing team were also selected to compete.
Second round action begins Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. (Eastern), with Cameron scheduled to go off the No. 10 tee beginning at 12:50 p.m. Teams will complete one round each day in the 72-hole event, with the national champion set to be crowned following Friday's final round.
