DADE CITY, Fla. – The Valdosta State men's golf team sits fifth with a 36-hole score of 581 following two rounds of the Saint Leo Invitational on the par 72, 7,153-yard Lake Jovita Golf & Country Club course. Nova Southeastern leads the 12-team field with a 569 score.
No. 15 and host Saint Leo is second with a 573 score, followed by Keiser University, who is No. 2 in National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) at 575 and No. 7 Lee sits fourth with a 577 score. The Blazers lead No. 37 Central Oklahoma (582) by one stroke for fifth heading into tomorrow's final round.
There is a large gap following UCO as Palm Beach Atlantic is seventh with a 594 score, followed by Tampa (595) and Eckerd is ninth at 596. Division I Monmouth is tenth at 602, followed by Division I Bethune-Cookman (616) and Wilmington (Del.) is 12
th with a 636 score.
Saint Leo's Alberto Castagnara leads the field with an 8-under 136, while Bethune-Cookman's Marcus Sundlof is second at 7-under 137. Tomas Millet of Nova Southeastern is 6-under and there is a four-way tie for fourth, including VSU sophomore
Gage Smith at 2-under 142 (70-72) and Blazer sophomore
Chase Weathers, who is playing as an individual. Weathers opened with a 76 and then followed with a tournament-low and career-best 67.
VSU opened the tournament with a 289 score in the first round as it sat second following the first round. The Blazers then shot a 292 in the second round. Following Smith in the team scoring was junior
Wesley Hanson with a 145 score on rounds of 73 and 72 as he is tied for 14
th. Junior
AJ Ouimet sits tied for 23
rd after rounds of 71 and 76 for a 147 score, while sophomore
Davis Smith is tied for 31
st with a 148 on rounds of 75 and 73. Senior
Jordan Long is tied for 48
th with a 153 score (78-75).
Among the other individuals for the Blazers, junior
Ben Trancygier is tied for 58
th after opening with an 85 and shooting par in the second round for a 157 score, while senior
Thomas Jespersen is tied for 65
th with rounds of 79 and 81 for a 160 score. Sophomore Valdosta native
Parker Rowe is 70
th with a 163 score on rounds of 82 and 81.
The field is scheduled for the final round Tuesday. Check back with vstateblazers.com for complete results from tomorrow's final round.
