Parker Bell and Jack Turner both carded 2-under 70 in round two pacing Florida to a 3-under 285 on day two.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Florida men’s golf owns the final spot inside the championship cut in 5th place with a four-shot advantage through two rounds at the NCAA West Lafayette Regional on Tuesday.
The Gators shot a round two score of 3-under 285, a four-shot improvement from the opening round, and were led by underclassmen Parker Bell and Jack Turner. Both carded rounds of 2-under 70. Florida closed the round strong, going 4-under in the last four holes.
Vanderbilt leads the tournament through 36 holes at 16-under par as host Purdue (-15) is one back after day two charge of 11-under, tying the Commodores opening round that set an NCAA event record at Kampen-Cosler Course. Arizona is in third at 9-under with New Mexico (-3) in fourth one shot ahead of UF. Following the conclusion of 54-holes, the top five teams as well as the low individual finisher not on an advancing team will advance to the NCAA Championship at Omni La Costa (Champions Course) in Carlsbad, Calif. from May 24-29.
The Gators tee off the final round at 8:30 a.m. and are paired with New Mexico and Mississippi State (6th, +2).
Round two featured no wind on the course resulting in nine of the 13 teams finishing under par with the highest score only at +3 in addition to the average round score dropping from 74.84 to 72.49.
Owing his second consecutive 2-under round was Bell as he is tied for 5th and four back of the lead. Teeing off the back nine today, he was bogey-free at the turn. The under par round totals his fourth in the postseason out of five rounds. After a bogey-birdie-bogey stretch on holes 3-5, he responded with birdie-birdie-par-par to finish his day.
Making a six-shot improvement from day one was the freshman Turner. He was the first Gator to tee off this morning and led the lineup with five birdies in his round. The All-SEC Freshman selection, climbed 14 spots to position himself T34.
Florida’s third counting score came from Ian Gilligan, who had an even par 72. The junior only had one bogey in his round, coming on his second hole. He remains 1-under overall and is tied for 13th.
Part of the 4-under final four-hole stretch, Matthew Kress (T37) had a 1-over 73. He made birdie on hole 18 (par4, 484), which is the second hardest hole and an average score of +0.49. Kress’ birdie is one of nine total in the field at the location.
Though his score did not count, John DuBois (T44) closed out his second set of nine holes strong. He made the turn and with four holes to play was 4-over. The 5th-year senior logged back-to-back birdies then made two straight pars to finish play for a round of 2-over 74.
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