The University of Florida men’s golf team shot a second round 296 (+12), to sit in a tie for eighth place heading into the final round of the 2012 NCAA Championships played at Riviera Country Club. The top-eight teams following tomorrow’s final round will advance to the match play portion of the tournament and compete for the National Championship.
“We weren’t quite as good as we were yesterday but it’s all relative,” said head coach Buddy Alexander. “The cool thing about this tournament is that you don’t really know where you stand until after 36 holes. The good thing is that we put ourselves in a spot where we can make a run at it tomorrow.”
For the day, the Gators were again led by junior Tyler McCumber (Ponte Vedra, Fla.) who shot and even par round of 71 and sits at three-under for the tournament, good for a tie for second overall. After starting his day with a pair of pars on 10 and 11, McCumber made a birdie on the par-4 12th. The junior gave the stroke back with a bogey on 15 to drop to even on the day but quickly recovered carding a birdie on the next hole, the par-3 16th. After making the turn at one-under, 35, McCumber added a birdie on the par-5 first to get to two-under on the day. Unfortunately, McCumber gave the two-strokes back with a double at the difficult par-4 second. McCumber didn’t let the double fluster him as he steadily came in with seven-consecutive pars to post his second straight round of even par or better. McCumber will enter the final round two strokes behind Thomas Pieters of Illinois.
Junior T.J. Vogel (Cooper City, Fla.) and freshman Eric Banks (Truro, Canada) each recorded second round scores of 74 for the Orange and Blue. Vogel, who sits in a tie for 37th after two rounds, used two birdies against three bogeys and a double for his three-over round, while Banks had three birdies countered by six bogeys.
Senior Michael Furci (Sayville, N.Y.) posted the final counting score for UF with a six-over, 77, while freshman J.D. Tomlinson (Gainesville, Fla.) rounded out the Gators in the field with an 82.
“We’re going to go out tomorrow, play our game and try to put together a solid round and then see what happens,” Alexander said.
The Gators will return to the course tomorrow when they tee off beginning at noon PST, 3 p.m. EST. UF will be paired with USC and Illinois during the final round. Live scoring for the round and live video on select holes will be available through NCAA.com.
