FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas – The Pepperdine men's golf team had a nice bounce-back second round at the NCAA Championships on Saturday, climbing nine spots in the standings and up to 17th place.
The Waves have a two-day total of 603 (312-291) at the par-72 Blessings Golf Club. Pepperdine was 21 shots better than the day before, and the team's score of 3-over was the seventh-best of the day among the 30 teams.
But it was almost a whole lot better. The Waves' four scoring players shot 5-under through 15 holes, and at one point Golfstat had them at 11th place in the standings. But on Pepperdine's final three holes, the Waves counted four bogeys and two double bogeys.
The Waves will need to get into the top 15 at the conclusion of Sunday's third round to advance to Monday's final round of stroke play. Eight teams will move on to match play on Tuesday. The Waves will begin Sunday two shots out of 15th and 10 shots out of eighth.
Pepperdine, the 1997 NCAA champion, is making its 10th appearance at the NCAA Championships.
PLAYER SCORES
- Freshman Joe Highsmith (Lakewood, Wash./Bellarmine Prep) is tied for 37th at 148 (76-72). His even-par round includes four birdies. They came back-to-back twice, on 10 and 11 and later 1 and 2.
- Sophomore RJ Manke (Lakewood, Wash./Bellarmine Preparatory School) had the Waves' best round of the day, a 2-under 70. That moved him up 57 spots and into a tie for 48th at 149 (79-70). He had a run of three consecutive birdies on 13, 14 and 15, and he had five birdies in his first eight holes. He finished with six.
- Junior Joshua McCarthy (Danville, Calif./De La Salle HS) is tied for 77th at 152 (79-73). Saturday's round included three birdies.
- Junior Clay Feagler (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Dana Hills HS) is tied for 96th at 154 (78-76). He had three birdies.
- Senior Roy Cootes (Rolling Hills, Calif./Palos Verdes HS) is tied for 149th at 163 (82-81). He posted two birdies on Saturday.
UP NEXT
Pepperdine will be paired with UNLV and North Carolina for Sunday's third round. They'll start on the first hole beginning at 12 p.m. CT (10 a.m. PT).
THE NUMBERS
Team Scores: 1. Oklahoma State 290-276=566; 2. Stanford 291-287=578; 3. Texas A&M 296-287=583; 4. Auburn 292-294=586; 5. Texas 298-290=588; 6. Oklahoma 305-287=592; T7. Wake Forest 296-297=593; T7. Ohio State 297-296=593; T7. California 292-301=593; 10. Clemson 302-292=594; 11. Vanderbilt 307-288=595; 12. Arizona State 302-296=598; T13. Georgia Tech 307-293=600; T13. Georgia 300-300=600; 15. SMU 308-293=601; 16. UNLV 310-292=602;
17. Pepperdine 312-291=603; T18. North Carolina 304-300=604; T18. South Carolina 305-299=604; T20. North Florida 309-297=606; T20. TCU 311-295=606; 22. Georgia Southern 308-299=607; T23. Liberty 305-303=608; T23. USC 304-304=608; 25. Baylor 314-295=609; 26. LSU 308-302=610; 27. Illinois 311-301=612; 28. Louisville 313-302=615; 29. Duke 313-305=618; 30. BYU 322-307=629.
Top Individuals: 1. Austin Eckroat (Oklahoma State) 69-69=138; T2. Matthew Wolff (Oklahoma State) 73-66=139; T2. Collin Morikawa (California) 67-72=139; T4. Jacob Solomon (Auburn) 71-69=140; T4. Isaiah Salinda (Stanford) 70-70-140; T4. Kyler Dunkle (Utah) 69-71=140.
Gallery: (5/25/2019) Men's Golf at NCAA Championships Round 2
