March 1, 2010

BEAUMONT, Calif. - Play was suspended due to darkness at UC Riverside's Braveheart Classic Monday night. Santa Clara was an efficient 4-over par deep into the second round with one player, Cory Mehl, having two holes to play when competition resumes at Oak Valley Golf Club in Beaumont Tuesday.

Mehl figures to be in title contention, posting a 1-under score through 34 holes. He is among the tournament leaders. As a team, Santa Clara was in the top tier of the 14-school field after the morning round.

"We needed to make up four strokes this afternoon to get into the top three," said Santa Clara head coach Robert Miller. "Scott (Travers) shot a 69 in the second round to get us back into it. He and a few other players struggled in the morning but no team was really scoring low. This is a tough course and the pins placements today are tough as well. There's a reason they use this course for the second stage of tour qualifying."

Oak Valley Golf Club in Beaumont is spread out over 7,003 yards from the back tees at a par of 72. The field is scheduled to play 18-plus holes Tuesday. Complete Day One results are pending.

"Hard to say if we can win this thing," added Miller. "With no scores in we just don't know how good Arizona and Cal State Northridge played (the only teams to break 300 in the opening round). Then again, we can't be too far off. We haven't lost head-to-head to either of those schools yet this year."