March 11, 2017
Tallahassee, Fla. – Tallahassee, Fla. – James Clark fired a 4-under-par 68 Saturday, pacing 25th-ranked Georgia Tech to an 8-under-par round of 280 to maintain third place after two rounds of the 41st annual Seminole Intercollegiate at Southwood Golf Club. The final round is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. Sunday, and the Yellow Jackets are in the final groups to tee off at 9:50 a.m., paired with first-place Penn State and second-place Florida State.
Pairings and live scoring via Golfstat
TECH LINEUP – Clark, a junior from Columbus, Ga., played solid round with few mistakes, with three birdies and no bogeys over his final 14 holes. He tied for ninth place in this event two years ago and has broken 70 in four of the five rounds he has played on the Southwood Golf Club course. After posting a 69 Friday, he has a 36-hole total of 137 (-7), tied for third place.
Freshman Luke Schniederjans (Powder Springs, Ga.), who has already won twice this year, including the Puerto Rico Classic two weeks ago, shot 1-under-par 71 Saturday and is tied with Clark and three others for third place.
The Yellow Jackets also got counting scores of 70 (-1) from freshman Tyler Strafaci (Davie, Fla.) and a second straight 71 from senior Vincent Whaley (McKinney, Texas). Strafaci is tied for 13th place individually at 4-under-par 140.
Freshman Andy Ogletree (Little Rock, Miss.) improved to an even-par 72 Saturday but did not count for the Jackets. Junior Jacob Joiner (Leesburg, Ga.), competing as an individual, shot 74 and is tied for 29th place.
TEAM LEADERBOARD – Penn State rode the hot hand of Cole Miller and had three players break 70 for the second straight day, posting an 11-under-par round of 277 to maintain its lead over host Florida State after 36 holes. The Nittany Lions (550, -26) have a two stroke lead over the Seminoles (552, -24), who carded a 10-under-par round of 278 Saturday.
The Yellow Jackets are four shots behind FSU at 556 (-20), followed by Troy (561, -15), which shot the low round of the day with a 12-under-par score of 276. West Virginia (563, -13) holds fifth place, followed by Jacksonville and James Madison, tied for fifth place at 567 (-9), and Southern Illinois (574, -2) in eighth place.
The rest of the 14-team field is over par for 36 holes.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD – Penn State’s Cole Miller fired a 5-under-par 67 Saturday to maintain a share of the individual lead at 11-under-par 133, tied with Florida State’s Harry Ellis, who shot 66 Saturday.
Tech’s Luke Schniederjans, who shared the first-round lead with Miller after shooting 66, fell two shots back into a five-player tie for third, which includes his teammate James Clark, at 7-under-par 137. Winthrop’s Zach Seabolt and West Virginia’s Alan Cooke are tied for eighth place at 138 (-6), while Penn State’s Charles Huntzinger and FSU teammates Jonathan Keppler and Corey Carlson are tied for 10th at 139 (-5).
The Jackets’ Tyler Strafaci is in a six-player logjam at 140 (-4), tied for 13th place.
COACH Bruce Heppler SAYS – “We’re hanging in there. We played a solid round today, but we need to play better to overtake the two teams ahead of us. Penn State has played really well, and Florida State is playing on their home course. I’m thrilled with the way James has played, better than he’s ever played, and it’s good to see Vince playing good golf again. We need them both to continue that tomorrow for us to have a chance to win.”
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION – Georgia Tech is making its 14th appearance all-time in the event, and third in the last six years. The Yellow Jackets finished fourth in their last visit there in the spring of 2015. The 54-hole event runs from Friday through Sunday at the 7,172-yard, par 72 Southwood Golf Club.
Three of the 12 teams in the field are ranked among the nation’s top 50 in the Golfstat rankings, six in the top 100, with Tech ranking highest at No. 25, followed by host Florida State (30), Jacksonville (31), Penn State (54), James Madison (57) and Troy (88). George Mason, Illinois State, Southern Illinois, VCU, West Virginia, Western Carolina, Western Kentucky and Winthrop round out the field.
