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By Rob Schabert, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information
SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. – A 14-stroke improvement in the second round bumped the Tennessee Tech men's golf team a couple of spots in the team standings heading into Tuesday's final round of the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate at Sevierville Golf Club.
Following a first round 307 that left coach Polk Brown's team in 10th place Monday afternoon, the Golden Eagles fought back in difficult conditions to post a second-round 293 and climb to eight place with 18 holes remaining.
The day saw cold, wet conditions throughout the morning and early afternoon, improving slightly over the second portion of the second round.
Tech sits just seven shots out of third place in the 12- team field. Tennessee owns a commanding lead, posting a two-round, 11-under score of 565. Eastern Kentucky (585) is a distant second, followed by West Georgia (593), UT Martin (595) and a tie between Detroit Mercy and Evansville (596).
The rest of the field includes Longwood (599), Tech and Northern Kentucky (600), Murray State (609), Tennessee State (614) and Wright State (629).
Junior Mason Griffin and sophomore Bryce Kendrick (in photo above) led the Golden Eagles on Monday, and are tied for 20th place with 36-hole scores of 148. Each showed improvement, Griffin going from 76 to 82 while Kendrick went from 75 to 73.
In fact, all five players in the Golden Eagle lineup did a great job coping with Monday's wet and cold conditions to improve on their second round scores. Mitchell Thomas shot 77-73--150, while both Adam Cunningham and Lee Whitehead scored 79-75—154.
Oliver Goss of Tennessee is the individual leader, shooting rounds of 71 and 66 for a 137 total, giving him a five-shot edge on a three-way tie for second place, including Corey Richmond of Northern Kentucky, Taylor Riggs of Eastern Kentucky, and Danny Keddie of Tennessee.
The third round is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. ET with a shotgun start on the River Course at Sevierville.