Bulldog Golf Makes Top 15 NCAA Tournament Cut Surging into a 9th Place Tie After Round Two
Ryan King and Todd Rose lead the Bulldogs back from a 20th place finish after the first round to remain in NCAA contention
June 1, 2000
FRESNO, Calif. -
Fifteen teams fell out of contention today as the NCAA championship made a 15-team tournament cut sizing the field of play from 30 to just 15. The No. 4 Bulldogs, after finishing the first round of the NCAA Division I Golf Championships in 20th (+5), made a surge for the top 15 today finishing in a tie for 9th with a second round score of 285 (-3) and a two-round total of 293-285--578. The Bulldogs tie with TCU, Clemson, and Auburn. Leading the tournament is No. 3 Oklahoma State followed by No. 17 Texas. Top seeded teams cut include No. 11 BYU, No. 6 Georgia, No. 7 Arizona State and No. 12 New Mexico.
"We made a huge team comeback and made the cut," head coach Mike Watney said. "We walked off the course happy with our scores and relaxed, ate lunch and just waited for the other teams to finish."
Fresno State's Ryan King and Todd Rose were an integral part of the Bulldogs' comeback as they both scored a 70 (-2) for the second round after first round scores of 75 and 77 respectively. King birdied five of the final six holes and is currently in a tie for 47th individually, Rose is tied for 72nd. Josh Watney (tied for 62nd) also had a strong day for the Bulldogs scoring a 71 (-1) totaling a two-day score of 146. Danny Paniccia shot a 74 (+2) tallying a two-round score of 145 tying for 47th and Nick Watney shot a 79 (+7) for a total of 151 tying for 120th.
Individually, Charles Howell of Oklahoma State and David Gossett of Texas are leading with a tie of -11 (133) and are followed by a third place Chris Wisler from East Tennessee (-9) and fourth place J.J. Wall of Texas (-8). There was also a top-9 cut in individual play, there is an individual playoff tomorrow morning for the three remaining spots.
Teams remaining in the tournament resume the final two rounds tomorrow, June 2, and conclude the fourth and final round on Saturday, June 3. The top 15 teams are as follows:
1. Oklahoma State (-19)
2. Texas (-18)
3. Georgia Tech (-14)
4. North Carolina (-6)
5. Kent (-5)
6. UNLV (-3)
7. Houston (-3)
8. Arizona (-1)
9. TCU (+1)
Clemson (+2)
Auburn (+2)
FRESNO STATE (+2)
13. Minnesota (+4)
14. Northwestern (+4)
**15. Georgia (+6)
Wake Forest (+6)
(** will have a playoff tomorrow morning at 7:15 a.m. central time)
The NCAA National Championship tournament is being played at the Grand National Golf Course in Opelika, Ala. and is hosted by Auburn University, Auburn, Ala. The par-72, 7,000 yard course holds a 74.9 rating and has been rated as one of the top 10 new public golf courses in America by Golf Digest and is part of the prestigious Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail of Alabama. It has hosted two regional tournaments, the 1997 NIKE Tour Tournament, and the 1998 LPGA Tournament of Champions.
For complete team and individual results as well as live stats go to www.auburn.edu/athletics/ncaagolf . NOTE: the "plus/minus par" on the Auburn site was inaccurate by not dropping the low scores per round. The correct plus/minus par has been updated and is now accurate. Also, the leaderboard and team leader live stats on the web are unofficial until the final results are printing and posted as official final results.
