RALEIGH, N.C. – A two-hole stretch was the undoing for Santa Clara men's golf in the second round of the NCAA Raleigh Regional. The Broncos carded a 290 on Tuesday to drop into 10th place with a two-round total of 2-under 566.
"We got off to a decent start and then we ran into a real tough stretch," head coach Rob Miller said. "The 14th and 15th hole we just threw away a lot of strokes. As a team we were 15-over and 14 of those overs counted in the scores we used. That was a huge barrier to overcome. The guys fought back and tried to come back from that, but we really dug ourselves a pretty big hole."
Senior Hayden Shieh paced the Broncos with a second-round 3-under 68 to move into a tie for 14th place along with teammate Jack Avrit. The freshman, who navigated the par-71, 7,273-yard Lonnie Poole Golf Course to a career-low round of 65 in Monday's first round, ended the day at 3-over 74. The two are tied with six other golfers at 3-under 139.
The top five teams in the three-day tournament will advance to the NCAA Championship, which will be held on May 25-30 at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The Broncos trail fifth-place Liberty by nine strokes heading into Wednesday's final round.
"We're down at the bottom now, but we're in striking range," Miller added. "There are a lot of teams in front of us which is a problem. Nine strokes is doable, but we have to pass several other teams as well."
VIDEO | Head coach Rob Miller of @SCUgolf discusses Tuesday's second round at the @ncaa Regional at @PackAthletics. A rough two-hole stretch helped move the #SCUBroncos down to 10th, but they will look to rebound for Wednesday's final 18 holes. #StampedeTogether #NCAAGolf pic.twitter.com/c2SIGkJqKz
— Santa Clara Broncos (@SCUBroncos) May 15, 2018
With a two-round total of 544, Texas increased its lead to eight shots over second-place North Carolina State. Duke (553), Georgia Tech (553) and Liberty (557) round out the top-5. The Broncos will need to overcome Arizona State (559), Middle Tennessee State (561), Augusta (562) and Missouri (563) to advance to their first NCAA Championship.
"It's going to take a monumental effort by everyone. We will need to have four scores probably in the 60s tomorrow to pass all those teams," Miller added. "So that's our goal, just go out there and play loose and try to make up as much ground as we can and see if we can put some pressure on the teams ahead us."
The Broncos are scheduled to tee off Wednesday's final round at 5:25 a.m. PT. Live scoring is available at Golfstat.com.
Santa Clara 2nd Round Individual Results
| T14. | Jack Avrit | 65-74 = 139 (-3) |
| T14. | Hayden Shieh | 71-68 = 139 (-3) |
| T42. | Zack Kaneshiro | 68-75 = 143 (+1) |
| T57. | Matt McCarty | 72-75 = 147 (+5) |
| 66. | Derek Ackerman | 77-73 = 150 (+8) |
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