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    Men's Golf Team Tied For Sixth After NCAA South Central Regional Second Round Sophomore Will McCurdy Makes Hole-in-One To Follow Cole Moreland's Ace In First Round
    Will McCurdy

    Will McCurdy

    May 21, 2010

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    BRYAN, Texas -- The Auburn men's golf team inched closer and moved into a tie for sixth with No. 22 North Florida at 2-over par 578 after the NCAA South Central Regional second round at the Traditions Club on Friday. Sophomore Will McCurdy recorded the Tigers' second straight hole-in-one in back-to-back days en route to a 2-under 70.

    No. 3 and host Texas A&M shot even par and is leading with an 11-under par 565, one shot ahead of No. 10 Texas Tech (284-566) and three better than No. 25 TCU (291-568). There are six teams within seven shots of the five-team cutline to advance to the NCAA Championship.

    Wichita State is in fourth at 3-under 573 and is a shot ahead of Pepperdine (288-574), Auburn (290-578), No. 22 North Florida (298-578), Tulsa (288-580) and Baylor (289-580). Rice is in 10th at 284-583 followed by No. 16 Georgia (291-585), Georgetown (299-602), North Carolina (311-612) and Jackson State (348-673)

    The top five teams and top individual not on those teams qualify for the 113th NCAA Men's Golf Championship at The Honors Course in Chattanooga, Tenn., June 1-6.

    "We have put ourselves in position and are right in the thick of things," said Auburn head coach Nick Clinard. "We are playing some great holes while making a few mental mistakes here and there that will cost us when it comes down to the wire. We need a full team effort and go out and finish strong."

    Cole Moreland, who made a hole-in-one on the par-3 ninth hole in Thursday's first round, and McCurdy are both tied for 12th at 2-under par. Moreland shot a 73 after a first round 69 while McCurdy fired a second round 70. Sophomore John Stembridge is tied for 28th at 76-147 while freshman David Zickler is tied for 51st with a 75-151 and sophomore Kyle Kopsick shot an even par 72 after a first round 80 to move into a tie for 55th.

    McCurdy aced the par-3, 189-yard 16th hole with a 5-iron for his third hole-in-one overall, but his first in competition.

    "I was kind of speechless, and my heart was beating really fast," said McCurdy. "I didn't know what to do. I didn't expect it to go in. You never expect to make a hole-in-one. It was really exciting walking up on the green and picking the ball up out of the hole.

    "The pin was tucked right over the bunker. The person who hit before me hit it short into the bunker so that made me want to hit it a couple yards further. So at the very worst, I wanted to hit it on the back side of the green and have a better putt at it. Actually, I hit it a bit heavy. I was begging for it to go, and it just barely cleared the bunker, and it happened to trickle right into the hole and ended up being the right yardage."

    The Tigers play the final round on Saturday while live-scoring is available at www.golfstat.com and www.golfstatresults.com .

    Texas A&M's Ignacio Elvira and Wichita State's Dustin Garza broke away from a four-way tie for first at 6-under after the first round to head into the final round as the co-leaders at 8-under with both posting 70s on Friday. There is a four-way tie for third at 6-under.

     

     

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