West Virginia golf in third-place after 36 holes at NCAA Championship regional
By Joseph Smith
Led by a one-under-par performance from junior Max Green, West Virginia golf posted the top overall team score on Day Two of the NCAA Championship Rancho Santa Fe Regional to climb to third-place as a team on the overall leaderboard Tuesday. They sit just two strokes behind team leader North Florida with one more round to play.
If the Mountaineers can maintain their spot in the top-five tomorrow -- they currently sit three strokes ahead of fifth-place Oklahoma -- they will secure their opportunity to compete at the NCAA Championship final later this month.
Green was amongst the top individual performers on the second day of action, as he tallied a five birdie performance on the back nine of the course to help pace his team. Green now sits at even par overall through 36 holes, which has him sitting in a tie for eight-place on the individual leaderboards. He is five strokes behind individual leader Sampson Zheng of California.
Just one golfer from a team outside the top-five sits ahead of him, with San Diego's Andi Xu having a two stroke advantage over Green -- this is important as Green can secure a trip to the finals even if WVU falls down the leaderboard provided he is the top individual finisher on a non top-five team.
Sophomore Kaleb Wilson and junior Todd Duncan each finished the second round at even par individually -- they both still hold spots in the Top 20 as individuals, with Wilson tied for eleventh-place at one-over-par and Duncan tied for seventeenth-place after 36 holes.
After posting the team's worst individual round to open the week, senior Jackson Davenport rebounded with a one-over-par round on Tuesday to contribute to the Mountaineers' hot day on the links. Meanwhile junior Pierce Grieve, who led the Mountaineers individually following 18 holes, had a tumultuous second round that saw him finish 12-over-par and drop dramatically on the individual leaderboard.
The final round of action in Rancho Santa Fe will begin tomorrow morning, with WVU set to tee off beginning at 11 a.m. ET. Follow HailWV for more updates on the Mountaineers' NCAA regional performance tomorrow.