Feb. 7, 2014
Waikoloa Village, Hawai’i – Freshman Vincent Whaley birdied his last three holes to shoot a 7-under-par 65 Friday, and Seth Reeves added a 6-under-par 66 as Georgia Tech leaped eight spots to seventh place after 36 holes of the Amer Ari Invitational.
The No. 2-ranked Yellow Jackets rebounded with a vengeance from a poor opening round by posting an 18-under-par score of 270, the best round of the tournament by any of the 20 teams in the field. Ollie Schniederjans shot his second straight 69, and Bo Andrews added a 70 to complete the scoring for the Jackets, who have a two-round total of 556 (20-under-par).
Tech shaved eight shots off the lead of No. 3 Oklahoma State, who shot 11-under 277 for a 36-hole total of 548, two shots ahead of Oregon. No. 19 Washington is in third place at 24-under 552, followed by No. 27 Auburn and No. 24 Southern California, (-23) and No. 15 UCLA (-22). Tech is tied with No. 16 Texas and TCU. Nine of the 20 teams in the field are ranked among the nation’s top 30 teams in Division I.
“Obviously we played a much better round today,” said head coach Bruce Heppler. “Vince and Seth were very impressive the way they played today.”
Whaley, making his debut this week as a counting member of the Tech travel team, started fast with a birdie and an eagle on his first two holes (he started at the third. He played the next 13 holes 1-under-par before posting birdies at the 18th, 1st and 2nd. It matched the low round shot by any of the 120 players Friday and launched the McKinney, Texas, native into a tie for 12th place individually at 7-under-par 137.
He is five shots behind Cameron Wilson of Stanford, who also shot 65 Friday and has a 36-hole total of 132 (-12). Southern Cal’s Jeffrey Kand, UCL’s Lorens Chan and Oregon’s Thomas Lin, the first round leader, are tied for second place at 133.
After a bogey at No. 3, his second hole, Reeves went bogey-free the rest of the way with seven birdies, posting his low round of the year after not counting for Tech on Thursday. He is tied for 33rd place at 4-under-par 140. Schniederjans remained steady with four birdies and a bogey on Friday and is tied for 18th individually at 6-under-par 138.
Saturday’s final round begins with a shotgun start at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time.
AMER ARI INVITATIONALWaikoloa Village Resort, King's Course36-Hole Results
TEAM STANDINGS 1 Oklahoma State 271 277 548 -28 2 Oregon 276 274 550 -26 3 Washington 280 272 552 -24 T4 Auburn 274 279 553 -23 T4 Southern California 273 280 553 -23 6 UCLA 283 271 554 -22 T7 Texas 274 282 556 -20 T7 Georgia Tech 286 270 556 -20 T7 TCU 272 284 556 -20 T10 Stanford 281 276 557 -19 T10 Arizona State 280 277 557 -19 12 Texas Tech 278 282 560 -16 13 Hawaii-Hilo 279 286 565 -11 14 Oregon State 285 281 566 -10 15 Colorado 287 281 568 -8 16 Hawaii 279 291 570 -6 17 San Jose State 290 287 577 +1 18 UC Davis 290 289 579 +3 19 Osaka Gakuin University 286 295 581 +5 20 CSU-Monterey Bay 295 287 582 +6
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS 1 Cameron Wilson Stanford 67 65 132 -12 T2 Jeffrey Kang Southern California 66 67 133 -11 T2 Lorens Chan UCLA 68 65 133 -11 T2 Thomas Lim Oregon 64 69 133 -11 T5 Rico Hoey Southern California 65 69 134 -10 T5 Chelso Barrett TCU 66 68 134 -10
GEORGIA TECH SCORES T12 Vince Whaley (5) 72 65 137 T18 Ollie Schniederjans (1) 69 69 138 T33 Seth Reeves (3) 74 66 140 T56 Bo Andrews (4) 73 70 143 T63 Anders Albertson (2) 72 72 144
