April 6, 2009
Complete Results and Tuesday Tee Times
ALPHARETTA, Ga. – Stanford’s David Chung overcame brutal conditions to shoot a 6-under par 66 here Monday, helping the Cardinal take a four-stroke lead heading into Tuesday’s final round of the United States Collegiate Championship.
The 15 teams competing for one of college golf’s top regular season titles faced temperatures in the low 40’s and wind gusts approaching 30 miles per hour at The Golf Club of Georgia’s Lakeside Course. The final 18 holes are set for Tuesday, beginning at 11 a.m., on the par-72, 7,017-yard layout.
Sixth-ranked Stanford (+3) holds a four-stroke lead over Texas A&M (+7), followed by Washington (+9), Georgia (+11), UCLA (+13), Alabama (+16) and Clemson (+16). The Cardinal is in the driver’s seat, but 10 teams are within 15 strokes.
“It was brutal out there today,” Stanford coach Conrad Ray said. “It kept getting colder. And when it started drizzling, it was all you wanted.”
Ray, in a meeting with his team Sunday night, told his team to expect poor conditions and that shooting pars would move them higher in the standings.
“We got a break starting on the front side today,” Conrad said. “So, we played well on the front and built some momentum. We had in our minds that if we made a bunch of pars, we’d probably move up the leaderboard.”
The weather didn’t seem to bother Chung, who shot a 33-33–66 for Monday’s lowest round. Chung, who shot a 75 in more ideal conditions on Sunday, moved up to a tie for with teammate Steve Ziegler for third place in the individual race, two shots behind co-leaders Erik Flores (-5) of UCLA and Bud Cauley (-5) of Alabama.
Flores shot a 2-over 74 on Monday, one day after firing a tournament record 65 on Sunday. Flores’ round was helped by scoring an eagle on the par-5 ninth hole after hitting a 259-yard three-wood to within seven inches of the cup.
“It’s always nice to have a tap-in eagle,” said Flores, who bogeyed the 17th and 18th holes coming in.
“You know what, no, I’m not,” Flores said when asked if he was pleased with his round despite the conditions. “I three-putted three times today and that’s three strokes you’re just giving away.”
Flores would be alone atop the leader board if not for a gust of wind on the 18th hole that left him with a five-foot putt for par. Instead, Flores is tied with Alabama’s Cauley, who shot a 3-under 69 on Monday to go with his opening round of 70. Cauley’s 69 on Monday was second only to Chung’s 66.
“(The course) did play tough and I did have a few good par putts, but I missed a lot of birdie opportunities,” Flores said. “But if somebody would have said going in that you’d be leading (entering the final round), obviously you’re going to take it.”
Clemson, which led after the first round, struggled to a 21-over 309 on Monday to tie Alabama for sixth place. The Tigers and Crimson Tide are 13 strokes off the pace.
Washington bolted to the team lead early in the day before settling for a round of 298 and the Huskies are in third place, four strokes behind Pac-10 rival Stanford.
The best round of the day belonged to Texas A&M, the only team to shoot under par (1-under 287) on Monday. The Aggies leapfrogged from 11th place to second place in one round.
All four Pac-10 teams participating in the fourth annual event are tied for eighth or better entering the final round.
The U.S. Collegiate Championship field includes nine of the nation’s top-10 ranked teams including No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Oklahoma State and No. 3 Southern California.
Georgia Tech is tied for eighth place with Southern California, 14 strokes off the lead pace, after shooting a 14-over 302 on Monday. The Yellow Jackets will need to rally to maintain their streak of finishing in the top four of every previous USCC.
Tech is paced by John-Tyler Griffin, who is tied for 11th place with a 72-74–146 (+2).
TEAM SCORES RD1 RD2 RD3 TOTAL(6) Stanford 289 290 579 (+3)(24) Texas A&M 296 287 583 (+7)(9) Washington 287 298 585 (+9)(1) Georgia 295 292 587 (+11)(27) UCLA 284 305 589 (+13)(13) Alabama 291 301 592 (+16)(4) Clemson 283 309 592 (+16)(8) Georgia Tech 291 302 593 (+17)(3) Southern California 285 308 593 (+17)(2) Oklahoma State 289 305 594 (+18)(11) South Carolina 291 303 594 (+18)(7) Indiana 303 297 600 (+24)(29) East Tennessee State 306 303 609 (+33)(5) Florida 296 314 610 (+34) (18) Florida State 302 309 611 (+35) ( ) Golfweek National Ranking
TOP INDIVIDUALS RD1 RD2 RD3 TOTAL Bud Cauley, Alabama 70 69 139 (-5) Erik Flores, UCLA 65 74 139 (-5) David Chung, Stanford 75 66 141 (-3) Steve Ziegler, Stanford 70 71 141 (-3) David May, Clemson 67 75 142 (-2) Bronson Burgoon, Texas A&M 73 70 143 (-1) Matthew Giles, Southern California 67 77 144 (E) Brooks Koepka, Florida State 70 74 144 (E) Nick Taylor, Washington 69 75 144 (E)
GEORGIA TECH RD1 RD2 RD3 TOTAL John Tyler Griffin, So. 72 74 146 (+2) David Dragoo, Sr. 73 74 147 (+3) Chesson Hadley, Jr. 73 75 148 (+4) Cameron Tringale, Sr. 73 79 152 (+8) Minghao Wang, Fr. 76 81 157 (+13)
