Michigan State holds 7 stroke advantage for fifth qualifying spot after Day 2 at NCAA Regional
Despite shooting 1-over par on the second day of the NCAA Regional golf tournament at Eagle Eye Golf Club in Bath, MI. Michigan State finds itself well within reach of qualifying for the NCAA Championship ahead of Wednesday’s final round.
Michigan State, which began the day tied for second with Illinois at 12-under, finished Tuesday’s regional round in fifth place at 11-under par. If the Spartans maintain that position, they will advance to the NCAA Championship.
Michigan State is in good position to make that happen as sixth-place teams Kansas State and Florida need to make up seven strokes in Wednesday’s final round to overtake the Spartans.
Wednesday’s final round begins at 8:00 am and can be followed online at GolfStat.
Day 2 of the NCAA Regional golf tournament on Tuesday did not go as smoothly for Michigan State as Monday’s opening round when every Spartan player finished under par, tying a program record with a 12-under 272.
After struggling on the front nine and dropping all the way down to 6-under in the early going on the back nine, Michigan State rallied with four out of five golfers carding birdies on the 560-yard Par 5 14th hole. The birdie blitz on 14 helped the Spartans regain momentum that was lost on the front nine. Birdies by Ashton McCulloch and Troy Taylor on the 591-yard Par 5 18th brought Michigan State to 11-under.
After falling out of the Top 10 with a double bogey at the Par 3 fifth and a bogie on the Par 4 486-yard ninth, Taylor rebounded on the back nine with birdies at 14 and 18, both Par 5’s. With an even par round of 71, Taylor sits in sixth-place at 5-under ahead of Wednesdays’ final round.
August Meekhof was the only Spartan under par in Tuesday’s round. Meekhof, who was 2-under on the front nine and even on the back, carded a 69 to move up into the Top 20 at 3-under through two rounds.
Day 1 leader Georgia continued its red-hot play on Tuesday, shooting 10-under par to build a 10-stroke lead over second-place Illinois (-18). Oregon matched Georgia for low round on Tuesday to move up two spaces into third at 15-under. Texas sits in fourth-place (-12) one stroke ahead of Michigan State after a roller-coaster round that included two double bogeys and a nine on the 18th. The Longhorns shot 3-under on the day.
Kansas State and Florida are the biggest threats to Michigan State advancing to the NCAA Championship. Florida moved up a spot from seventh-place after Monday’s round with an even-par round on Tuesday. Kansas State shot 1-under on Tuesday to move into a sixth-place tie with Florida.
Little Rock and Wisconsin both gained ground on Michigan State through the first nine holes of Tuesday’s regional. Wisconsin was tied with Michigan State at 6-under shortly after making the turn on Day 2. After closing the gap and moving up the leaderboard into a fifth-place tie, Wisconsin stumbled with flurry of bogeys from which it failed to recover. The Badgers dropped from 6-under on the day to 7-over with a tough back nine. Little Rock also stalled out. After starting the day at 1-over par, Little Rock carded a 6-over round of 290, putting itself out of contention for a top-five finish.
