STATESBORO – Eagle counters combined to shoot 7-under on the final three holes, and the Georgia Southern men's golf team shot a 276 to move into a tie for third in the second round of the Schenkel Invitational Saturday at Forest Heights Country Club.
Steven Fisk eagled the par-5 18th after putting his approach on the green to within eight feet of the hole. The junior also birdied 17, while
Archer Price birdied 16, 17 and 18.
Jake Storey made birdie at 16, and
Brett Barron parred all three holes.
The Eagles 12-under round was the lowest of the day, besting the field by three strokes. Vanderbilt (-23) shot a 9-under 279 to maintain its nine-stroke cushion over second-place Kentucky (-14). Georgia Southern (-11) is tied with Mississippi State, three strokes ahead of NC State (-8) and College of Charleston, which are tied for fifth, and six ahead of Florida (-5) in seventh.
Vandy's Theo Humphrey (-9) carded a 69 and has a one-shot lead over teammate Will Gordon (-8), Mississippi State's Taylor Bibbs and Georgia Southern senior
Archer Price, who are all tied for second.
Fisk led the Eagles with a 67, which tied for the lowest round of the day. Storey fired a 68, and Price posted a 69.
Brett Barron shot 72, and
Crawford Simmons posted a 76. The quintet combined to shoot 8-under on the par-5s today.
Storey (-6) is in sixth place, and Fisk (-4) moved ahead 26 places into a tie for ninth.
Jacob Bayer shot 71 to lead the GS individuals, while
Jonas Vaisanen and
Alexander DeRosa each posted 72.
Avery Price shot 73, and
Luukas Alakulppi carded a 74.
The tournament field features 13 teams and eight individuals ranked in the top-100. Vanderbilt will try to bring home its second Schenkel title in the last three years, and the last time three SEC schools finished in the top-3 spots at the Schenkel was 2008.
The story
Fisk birdied the 1st hole and added birdies on 7 and 9 to shoot 34 on the front nine. He played the back nine clean with birdies at 13 and 17 and an eagle on 18 and wound up playing his final 12 holes 6-under.
Sparked by a chip-in for eagle on the par-5 seventh, Storey shot 32 on the front. The senior had birdies at 4 and 6, and finished the day by shooting 2-under on his final seven holes with birdies at 12 and 16.
Price birdied the 1st and added a birdie on the 6th to shoot 1-under on the front. The senior logged four birdies on the back, including his final three holes of the round.
Barron parred his first three holes and made birdie on four of the next seven to move to 3-under on the day. The sophomore capped the round with six straight pars.
Bayer made par on his first four holes and birdied 16 and 18 as he made the turn. The freshman shot an even 36 on the front with birdies at holes 3 and 7.
Vaisanen had a clean back nine with a birdie on the par-3 15th and played his final seven holes of the round 1-under. DeRosa played his first six holes 1-under, shot even on the back and added two birdies on the front, including his last hole of the day.
Quotables from Coach Carter Collins
On today's round
"Jake and Archer played well again and put up similar scores to yesterday, and Steven had a great finish to his round, which turned what would have been a good score into a great score. Brett played well, had a little trouble on the back nine but then really held his own in the last six holes, and Crawford was solid all day."
On the individuals
"Yesterday was the first or second time playing the Schenkel for most of the guys. They settled into the tournament very well today and put up five solid numbers."
On tomorrow
"With the way we finished, we earned a lot of momentum heading into the final round, and the good thing is that we saw that even though our score wasn't great yesterday, we were able to play the way we're capable of and made up a ton of ground today. So now we have to prepare the best we can for the round tomorrow, go out and play as hard as we can and execute as best we can, add them up and see where we finish."
Next up
The third and final round will start at 8:20 a.m. Sunday at Forest Heights Country Club. The Eagles are paired with College of Charleston and NC State and tee off the first hole at 9:15 a.m.
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