Beginning Tuesday, a member of the University of South Alabama men's golf team will write each day about his and the team's experiences at the NCAA Southeast Regional this week. The Jaguars travelled to Alpharetta, Ga., Tuesday and will play a practice round Wednesday before competing in three rounds from Thursday-Saturday.
Jack Hiluta, a junior who calls Chelmsford, Essex, England home, filed Friday's report after the Jaguars recorded a 4-over-par 284 total to move into the top five of the team standings.
Today the Jaguars stepped out of the hotel at a very early 5.45 a.m. to begin the second day of play at the NCAA Southeast Regional in a tie for seventh position. Everyone knew we had work to do today and the team didn't disappoint. Despite a rain delay of over an hour we came out and did a great job right from the start. To say that players on the team played well and did their jobs would be an understatement; the guys stepped up to the stage and played some excellent golf.
Chris played unbelievable golf in a round of 66, with just one bogey. To shoot that kind of score on a championship golf course is extremely good golf, but we all know that he can do that at any time. McLain also did a fantastic job today, he ground out a 71 and has enough talent to go much lower -- it was also noted how far he was hitting the ball by other coaches, a useful skill on such a long golf course. As for Marc, we all know he will pull out a score no matter how he is playing and can count on him to help us out. Hopefully he can stuff some shots tomorrow and build on his solid first two rounds. Blake did as he always does today. He fights. Blake is always a tremendous competitor and we all know that we can count on him when it comes down to a grind, a great player to have on the team for a final round! (Despite what he may think about my movie choices)
For my round today I had a pretty rough ride, from the start -- I struggled to keep any consistent ball flight going and found a few bogies early. I battled through some holes and made some good up and downs, but even though the course got the best of me overall I felt like I did a good job limiting the damage and hit some nice drives the last few holes.
Tomorrow is a new day, though, and we have to build on our successes today. As the saying goes, "Golf does not know what has just happened," so those who have played well need to keep it up and I will be looking to rebound with a solid round. We need to keep smart and commit to our game plan, intelligence counts for a lot on this golf course. With that in mind and the leaders still in our sights as we sit in fourth position the Jags look to hunt down the leaders and march on toward a national title.
