Feb. 28, 2011
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Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. - The No. 8 Auburn men's golf team (295-577) finished Monday's second round of the John Hayt Collegiate in first place with sophomore Blayne Barber tied for the individual lead at the Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
The Tigers advanced to Tuesday's final round seven strokes ahead of No. 10 LSU (300-584), No. 18 Arkansas (299-584) and Tennessee (295-584) - all tied for second.
After entering the event with four straight top-two finishes, the Tigers will enter the final day in the leaders group for the fifth-consecutive tournament.
"The golf course played totally different than it did yesterday," said Auburn head coach Nick Clinard. "It was blowing about 25 miles per hour out there today. The morning tee times had the advantage of playing about six or seven holes before the winds really started kicking in. As soon as we went off the tees, in the last group, it was pretty strong."
Sophomore Blayne Barber (71-139), listed as No. 13 in Golfweek Magazine's collegiate individual rankings, was one of just five golfers to shoot under par Monday despite the windy conditions. The Lake City, Fla., native entered the day tied for first after carding an opening round 68.
Sophomore Michael Hebert (73-172) is tied for fourth, aiming for his first win and third top-five finish of the season. Freshman Niclas Carlsson (74-146) is tied for 16th followed by junior Kyle Kopsick (77-150) tied for 36th and freshman Dan Stringfellow (78-154) tied for 58th. Competing as an individual, junior Cory Gilmer (73-145) is tied for 12th.
"We played well the whole day," said Clinard. "It was the last three or four holes that killed us. We didn't finish as strong as we needed to. We left the door open for some of of the other teams."
Six teams shot under-par in Sunday's opening round. However, with Monday's windy conditions, there were no teams under-par for the day.
Auburn made the turn at even par, led by Barber and Carlsson each at 1-under. The Tigers then capitalized on No. 11, firing three birdies, moving the team to 3-under. However, as the round wore on and the wind began to take its toll, the Tigers were forced to count a pair of late-round double bogeys.
Central Florida (297-586) and TCU (304-586) finished the day tied for fifth followed by No. 3 Florida (304-590), Ole Miss (293-300), Mercer (303-597), Coastal Carolina (310-597), tournament host North Florida (309-601), Georgia Southern (311-603), Jacksonville (297-604) and UAB (312-609).
Tied for the individual lead with Barber are Arkansas' Sebastian Cappelan (70-139) and Florida's Phillip Choi (71-139). Choi is ranked 19th by Golfweek.
The Tigers tee off the front nine at 8:30 a.m. CST with LSU and Arkansas. Gilmer tees off the back nine at 7:27 a.m. CST with Arkansas' Chris Arvidsson and Coastal Carolina's Charlie Winegardner.
Live results will be made available via www.GolfStat.com.