NCAA Championships Second-Round Player Results
SIMPSONVILLE, Ky. – Sophomore
Jeff Evanier holed out for eagle and recorded back-to-back birdies on the front nine en route to a 1-under-par 71 fired during second-round play at the NCAA Men's Golf Championships on Wednesday morning.
Evanier (75-71--146) hit the links early with an 8:30 a.m. tee-time from No. 10 at the Cardinal Club Golf Course and took advantage of the early conditions before the greens dried out in the afternoon.
His round in the red numbers has Evanier positioned well heading into Thursday's third and final round for individuals, tied at 31st overall. The final two days are reserved for match play with the remaining teams in the field.
“Jeff has a lot of skills and a lot good things are happening this week,” EC Head Coach
Bill Buttner said. “We're just waiting for him to shoot that low number because we know he can. This round could have easily been a 67 or a 68.”
After a tough triple bogey on the final hole represented the only blip on his first-round total yesterday, Evanier's only trouble on Wednesday came while making the turn.
Evanier flexed his muscle on dangerous par-5 No. 13, driving a 3-wood off the tee. He then used a 7-iron to lay up about 117 yards from the pin and then holed out from that distance with his wedge.
The streak continued when a 4-iron off the tee rolled to just six feet in front of the cup on the 16th hole. He converted the birdie putt and proceeded to chip to two feet on the next hole, another long par-5 layout, for back-to-back birdies.
“It was the purest 4-iron shot (on No. 16) you want to see and it came as part of the momentum he generated early on,” Buttner said. “He was on fire through that stretch.”
Sitting at 3-under on the day through his first eight holes, Evanier made bogey on three consecutive holes while making the turn before chipping in for birdie on the par-3 third hole.
He finished his day strong by stringing together six straight pars on holes 4-through-9.
“The bogey on No. 18 derailed him a little and he missed a four-foot par putt,” Buttner said. “That led to not-so-good of a tee shot, not so good of second shot and so on. But to his credit, he missed the green with his 7-iron and chipped on No. 3.”
On Thursday, Evanier will tee off for his final round at 12:10 p.m. on the 10th tee. Live scoring on a hole-by-hole basis is provided courtesy of
www.Golfstat.com.
“We will try to be as aggressive as we can on the final day,” Buttner said. “We know the golf course a lot better and we'll take a few more chances.”
