WEST POINT, Miss. – Jordan Plunkett shot under par twice on Monday, leading the University of South Alabama men's golf team on the first day of play at the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship hosted by Mississippi State.
The freshman fired a 2-under-par 70 in the morning, recording the same score over the second 18 holes of the event to head into the final round tied for 12th place individually with a 4-under-par 140 total. Yannick Schütz and Kyle Robinson matched Plunkett with 70s in the second round while Rasmus Karlsson supplied a 72 to help the Jags post a 6-under-par 282 group score in the afternoon.
ULM followed up a 278 in the first round by shooting 276 in the second, and with a 22-under-par 554 figure leads fourth-ranked Vanderbilt by seven strokes going into the last day of play. South was one of eight schools to end up below par after 36 holes, standing eighth with a 1-under-par 576 total.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Event (host): Old Waverly Collegiate Championship (Mississippi State)
Date: 4/15
Course: Old Waverly Golf Club (par 72, 7,000 yds)
Live scoring: http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=16201
TEAM SCORES
1) ULM 278-276—554 (-22); 2) Vanderbilt 283-278—561; 3) Ole Miss 284-278—562; 4) Little Rock 280-283—563; 5) Middle Tennessee 283-283—566; 6) Mississippi State 284-284—568; 7) Chattanooga 287-284—571; 8) South Alabama 293-282—575; 9) Memphis 288-290—578; 10) Louisiana 290-297—587; 11) Louisiana Tech 301-287—588; 12) South Dakota 295-294—589; 13) Lipscomb 297-297—594; 14) Southern Mississippi 304-297—601; 15) Bradley 302-303—605.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
1) Marcys BYrd, MT 70-66—136 (-8); T2) Justin Warren, LR 68-69—137; T2) Patrick Martin, VU 67-70—137; T4) Thibault Santigny, ULM 69-69—138; T4) Otto Van Buynder, ULM 67-71—138; T4) Garrett Johnson, MSU 69-69—138; T4) Beau Briggs, OM 72-66—138; T4) Tanner Owens, MT 66-72—138; T9) three individuals with 139.
SOUTH ALABAMA SCORES
T12) Jordan Plunkett 70-70—140 (-4); T26) Yannick Schütz 73-70—143; T43) Kyle Robinson 77-70—147; T57) Peter Staalbo 73-76—149; T57) Rasmus Karlsson 77-72—149.
TEE SHOTS
-The tournament field includes 15 teams and 84 players.
-The Jaguars were one of two teams to record an improvement of 10 shots or more in the second round to move up two places in the team standings.
-Plunkett is now tied with Schütz for the team lead with 11 scores at or below par on the season after accomplishing the feat in both rounds on the same day for the first time since the Fighting Irish Classic on Oct. 7.
-The freshman paced the Jaguars with seven birdies on the day — highlighted by three on his first four holes in the afternoon — and is among the top 10 in the field with a 1-under total on par three holes.
-Schütz and Karlsson carded six birdies each over the opening 36 holes of the event, combining for seven in the second round.
-The former is among the top 10 in scoring on par-four holes with a 1-under-par figure.
-With a 4-under total on par fives, Robinson is among the top 15 in the field in scoring on those holes.
-Peter Staalbo played at even par on both the course's par three and fours, and with 25 pars on the first day is tied for the team lead — and among top 20 overall — in the category with Schütz.
THEY SAID IT
Head coach Ben Hannan
On the Jaguars' play in the first round of the event: "We really played pretty well all day, but in the morning round we just didn't get any putts to fall and then closed poorly; No. 2 is a par five and was one of our closing holes, and our counters played it 3 over which flipped the round. The conditions were perfect and unfortunately we had two guys play poorly at the same time, and in a field like this with these conditions if you count a 77 you're going to get stung a little bit."
On the team's improvement in the afternoon: "To their credit, the guys bounced back and everybody got going and played really good in the afternoon. We were 9 under at one point and got it to the house at 6 under, which was a solid round. I was pleased with the bounce back."
On Jordan Plunkett: "Jordan had a nice session in warm ups, he had good control of his golf ball. He's been working really hard on his putting, he gave himself a lot of opportunities all day and his hard work paid off when he started making some putts. He chipped in for eagle on 15 and got it to 5-under par, and although he had a couple of errant bogeys coming in he played solid all day to help the team."
Up next: The final round of the event — and the Jaguars' regular season — will tee off from Nos. 1 and 10 Tuesday at 8 a.m. (CDT).
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
Join the Birdie Club — the men's golf specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund. All donations to the Birdie Club go directly to support the South Alabama men's golf program. For more information on how you can join visit: jaguarathleticfund.com/birdieclub.
—USA—
