Oct. 19, 2013
Alpharetta, Ga. – Georgia Tech’s Ollie Schniederjans shot a 3-under-par 69 Saturday and grabbed a 4-stroke lead in the medal race, but Oklahoma State posted a 7-under-par 281 and took a 1-shot lead over the No. 2-ranked Yellow Jackets after 36 holes at the eighth annual United States Collegiate Championship.
Complete results and Sunday tee times
Tech (10-under-par 566) will battle the fifth-ranked Cowboys (11-under-par 565) for its third USCC title in four years Sunday when they tee off at 11:50 a.m. for the final round at the 7,107, par 72 Lakeside Course at The Golf Club of Georgia.
“We’ve seen swings of seven or eight shots out here, but we’re in the final groupings tomorrow, and that’s where you want to be in the final round,” said Tech coach Bruce Heppler. “We didn’t get out to the same start today that we did yesterday, and you need to start fast out here. But they fought all day, and we’re in the final group, so that should be good.”
The Jackets began the day with a five-stroke lead over OSU and led by as many as six on Saturday before the Cowboys stormed back behind under-par efforts from all four of their counting golfers. Ian Davis posted a 69, Jordan Niebrugge shot 70 and Wyndham Clark and Zachary Olsen added 71s. They led by as many as three on the back nine before giving back two shots coming in.
No. 17 UCLA is in third place at 3-under-par 573 and will play the final round with Tech and Oklahoma State. Wake Forest and No. 14 Virginia are tied for fourth place at 2-under 574, while Iowa (1-under 575) is in sixth and No. 9 Stanford (even-par 576) is in seventh.
Nine of the 15 teams in this weekend’s tournament are ranked among the nation’s top 25 teams, making this one of the strongest fields in college golf.
Schniederjans completed 36 holes at 9-under-par 135, four shots clear of Niebrugge (5-under 139). The junior from Powder Springs, Ga., if he can hold on to the lead Sunday, can earn an exemption to next June’s Air Capital Classic on the Web.com Tour. He also is within range of the tournament scoring record of 204 (-12) set three years ago by former Tech teammate James White.
Schniederjans, whose eagle on the final hole lifted Tech from a seven-shot deficit to victory here last fall, played the front nine 4-under-par but lost a stroke on the back nine. Light rain early in the day made scoring conditions slightly more difficult than the day before.
“It was a little more windy today, and I thought the scores might be a little higher,” said Schniederjans. “I had a really clean front nine, but I struggled on the back. I made a birdie on 14 and a big save on 17, so I hung in there. The team’s in fine shape, so it’ll come down to having a big day tomorrow. In eighteen holes in team golf, a lot can happen.”
The Jackets’ Anders Albertson shot his second straight 70 and is in a five-player tie for third place at 140 (-4). Bo Andrews added a 73 for Tech, and Seth Reeves shot a 75.
“You can’t be perfect every day,” said Heppler of Schniederjans. “He struggled today, and he still shot 3-under-par. I know he’ll be looking forward to tomorrow. Anders had a real solid round, missed a couple of putts, but was very good tee to green today.”
Play in the final round of the USCC begins at 8:20 a.m. Sunday.
2013 UNITED STATES COLLEGIATE CHAMPIONSHIPThe Golf Club of Georgia, Alpharetta, Ga.36-Hole Results
TEAM STANDINGS 1 Oklahoma State 284 281 565 -11 2 Georgia Tech 279 287 566 -10 3 UCLA 286 287 573 -3 T4 Iowa 287 287 574 -2 T4 Wake Forest 286 288 574 -2 6 Virginia 285 290 575 -1 7 Stanford 288 288 576 E 8 Texas A&M 285 292 577 +1 9 Southern California 290 289 579 +3 10 Washington 294 287 581 +5 11 Auburn 297 285 582 +6 12 ETSU 294 290 584 +8 13 Duke 291 297 588 +12 14 Kent State 296 295 591 +15 15 Clemson 299 293 592 +16
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS 1 Ollie Schniederjans Georgia Tech 66 69 135 -9 2 Jordan Niebrugge Oklahoma State 69 70 139 -5 T3 Anders Albertson Georgia Tech 70 70 140 -4 T3 Cameron Wilson Stanford 69 71 140 -4 T3 Ian Davis Oklahoma State 71 69 140 -4 T3 Rhys Pugh ETSU 69 71 140 -4 T3 Ben Rusch Virginia 66 74 140 -4 T3 Brian Bullington Iowa 70 70 140 -4 T9 Andrew Lister Texas A&M 71 70 141 -3 T9 Jonathan Garrick UCLA 70 71 141 -3 T9 Rico Hoey Southern California 70 71 141 -3 T9 Niclas Carlsson Auburn 72 69 141 -3 T13 Tyler Dunlap Texas A&M 70 72 142 -2 T13 Danny Guise Wake Forest 72 70 142 -2 T13 Motin Yeung Duke 69 73 142 -2 T13 Thomas Birdsey Wake Forest 71 71 142 -2 T13 Matt Pinizzotto UCLA 70 72 142 -2 T13 Lorens Chan UCLA 71 71 142 -2 T13 Denny McCarthy Virginia 72 70 142 -2 T20 Yaroslav Merkulov Duke 70 73 143 -1 T20 Bo Andrews Georgia Tech 70 73 143 -1 T20 David Boote Stanford 69 74 143 -1 T20 Zachary Olsen Oklahoma State 72 71 143 -1 T20 Ian Vandersee Iowa 69 74 143 -1
GEORGIA TECH SCORES 1 Ollie Schniederjans (1) 66 69 135 T3 Anders Albertson (3) 70 70 140 T20 Bo Andrews (5) 70 73 143 T45 Seth Reeves (2) 73 75 148 T51 Richard Werenski (4) 73 76 149
