ISU men’s golf slips back to sixth in second round of regionals
Richard Martinez/Iowa State Dail
Ruben Sondjaja, sophomore from Australia, warms up for practice at Iowa State’s golf performance facility south of campus. The men’s golf team prepared for the Badger Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin, making it the first Big 10 tournament the team will play on the road this season. Iowa State placed second overall with a score of 872, just one stroke behind winners Same Houston State with 871.
May 15, 2015
At last year’s NCAA regional, it took a final-round rally for the ISU men’s golf team to advance to nationals.
At this year’s Bremerton NCAA Regional, No. 43 Iowa State won’t need to rally from several shots down to find its way into the top five to advance, but it will have some work to do on the final day.
After beginning the day in a tie for fourth place, Iowa State slipped back to sixth place at day’s end, though only one shot separates Iowa State from No. 18 Baylor in fifth.
In round two, the Cyclones posted a second consecutive round of one-under-par 287 at the Olympic Course at Gold Mountain in Bremerton, Wash.
Senior Sam Daley continues to lead Iowa State on the individual leaderboard.
After another two-under-par round of 70, Daley is tied for 10th place and joins a group of 11 golfers within four shots of leader Cheng-Tsung Pan of Washington, the No. 4 NCAA golfer according to Golfstat.
Daley had a whirlwind finish to his round, posting birdies on holes 15, 16 and 18 and a double-bogey on 17.
On the day, sophomore Ruben Sondjaja was the low Cyclone. Sondjaja recorded a three-under-par round of 69 in which he played holes 8 through 17 in five-under-par.
For the tournament, he’s tied for 12th place out of 75 golfers at three-under-par.
In a tie for 32nd is Scott Fernandez, who salvaged his second round with an eagle on the par-4 18th hole. He stands at three-over-par with scores of 74 and 73.
Nick Voke was unable to back up his under-par first round of 71, following it up with a 77 to drop him 22 spots to a tie for 36th. His second round score was not considered for team scoring.
Collin Foster is in a tie for 54th with scores of 76 and 75 to his name.
In the final round, Iowa State will be competing alongside fourth-place No. 6 South Carolina (-5) and fifth-place No. 18 Baylor (-3) beginning at 7:50 a.m. PDT.
Along with the top five teams after tiebreakers, the highest-finishing individual from a non-qualifying team will also advance to the NCAA Championship.
