The Crabapple looked ripe for the picking early in the second round of the NCAA men’s golf championships.
California reached 17 under for the round at a point Wednesday. The Bears led a bushel of teams that hovered around a best-ball-like 10 under.
And then the sun (and sums) came up, the wind started to blow and the teams hit the closing five holes. By the end of the day, host Georgia Tech stood atop the leaderboard with a 12-under 548, improving on Tuesday’s score by six strokes. Cal couldn’t keep up its pace, but still posted an 8 under for the day and is 11 under for the tournament. Georgia went 3 over and is 9 over for the tournament. The Bulldogs will need to post a low score Thursday and hope for a lot of help to be one of the eight teams to advance to match play, which begins Friday.
The race for the individual title, which ends with the last round of stroke play Thursday, features several candidates, led by Arizona State’s Jon Rahm. He followed Tuesday’s 9-under 61 with a 2-over 72. He attributed the higher score to the tougher afternoon conditions, a painful right leg and a driver that consistently missed to the right. Tech’s Ollie Schniederjans (5 under) is one of 22 golfers, including Tech’s Anders Albertson (4 under), who are within four shots of Rahm, who said he is fine at 7 under.
“I knew the front was going to be torn up,” Schniederjans said. “I saw California all of a sudden was in front and I was like, ‘Great, surprise there.’ … But I knew on the back nine you just have to hold on.”
The Bears, like many of the teams, learned that lesson. The final five holes (not in order) include a 220-yard par 3 and par 4s of 480, 520, 470 and 468 yards. Of the four players whose scores counted, Cal went a combined 9 over in that stretch.
“The team’s played a lot of great rounds, (and) I haven’t seen them come apart like that all year,” Cal coach Steve Desimone said of the final stretch.
By contrast, Tech’s four, who have played the Capital City Club’s Crabapple Course countless times, combined to play the five holes at par. Arkansas, which got itself back into the tournament by matching defending national champ Texas for the day’s best score (9 under), played the final five holes in 1 over. The Razorbacks are 3 under for the tournament and in the running for one of the eight match-play spots. The Longhorns are 10 under.
Now the teams will focus on the race to the final eight Thursday, which Cal’s Max Homa (5 under) called the most stressful day of the year. The difficulty of the final five holes should make that stress worse. Tech, Cal and Texas are teeing off at 1:10 p.m. off No. 1, when the scoring conditions will be difficult. The team that finishes with the lowest three-day score will receive the top seed for match play.
Cal’s Brandon Hagy (5 under) said the Bears want the top seed. Alabama’s Jay Seawell, whose team shot 4 under and is 9 under for the tournament, said the same thing. Tech coach Bruce Heppler said the Yellow Jackets don’t plan to alter what they’ve tried to do: take advantage of the scoring holes and grind it out on the rest.
“We are just going to have to come out and make birdies again,” Schniederjans said. “Hopefully we will have a nice cushion with the last holes left.”
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