Strong Round 2 has Kats in contention at Regionals

STILLWATER, Okla. – With inclement weather in the forecast, the decision was made to play 36 holes on the opening day of the Stillwater Regional, and the Bearkats immediately went to work. William Holcomb fired an opening round 68 and Luis Carrera followed with a 68 in round two to put the Bearkats in position to advance to the NCAA Championships.

The Bearkats ended in the day in 6^th place, once shot behind Northwestern for the fifth and final automatic qualifying spot. Holcomb, who followed his opening round 68 with a 70, sits at 6-under for the tournament and is in second place.

The 8^th-seeded Kats opened the day shooting a 295 and were in 8^th place after the opening 18. Without much to think about the opening round, they started off the second 18 strong. Carrera opened Round 2 with eagle and at one point the Kats were 6-under early in the second round.

After giving back a few shots after making the turn, the Kats closed strong. As a team they played the final three holes at 3-under par. Paul Chaplet closed with two birdies on Nos. 17 and 18, Carrera birdied No. 18 and Grayson Blunt birdied No. 16.

The Kats improved their Round 1 score by 10 shots, closing Round 2 with a 285, the fourth-best team round of the day. The Bearkats are 4-over through 36 holes. Northwestern is 4-over while Baylor is even-par and sitting in fourth place. The hosts from Oklahoma State lead the way at 17-under while Illinois is two shots back. SMU is in third at 6-under

Chaplet and Carrera are each tied for 19^th at 1-over for the tournament. Chaplet shot an even-par 72 and then followed that up with a 73. It was an up-and-down day for Chaplet. After a birdie at No. 8, Chaplet was three-under for his round. But over the next 7 holes he played the course six over before closing with birdies on No. 17 and 18.

Carrera bounced back from an opening round 77 where he had just two birdies to shoot a 68 and get the Kats back into contention. After a birdie on No. 11 Carrera was 4-under for his round. He gave one back on No. 16, but birdied 18 for his 68.

Blunt also had a bounce back round that was big for the Kats. After shooting an 82 in the opening round, he improved by 8 shots to shoot a 74 in Round 2. Ting-Wei Hsieh had rounds of 78 and 80 and is 14-over for the tournament.

The Kats will be playing with Baylor and Northwestern for Round 3, which is scheduled to begin at 10 on hole No. 10 on Tuesday.

Strong Round 2 has Kats in contention at Regionals

Players Mentioned

Grayson Blunt

Luis Carrera

Paul Chaplet

William Holcomb

Ting-Wei Hsieh

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