May 18, 2012

Results

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Freshman Luke Jerling paced the Cardinals with a 1-under-par 71 Friday as the Lamar University men's golf team will head into Saturday's final round of the NCAA Greensboro Regional in a tie for fourth place.

Lamar is in good shape after the first 36 holes to qualify for its first NCAA Championship since 2007 when it tied for third in the nation. The top five teams will move on to the NCAA Championship, as well as the highest finishing individual not on one of those teams. The NCAA Championship is set for May 29-June 3 at The Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.

Jerling, who opened the tournament with a 75 on Thursday, had the Cardinals' low round of the day to move up from 31st place to a tie for 12th. Playing on the par-72, 7,271-yard Grandover Resort East Course, Jerling made the turn at 1-under-par before playing even-par on the front nine.

SMU's Matt Schovee leads the 75-player field after carding rounds of 67 and 70 for a 36-hole total of 137 (-7). Schovee is two strokes ahead of Liberty's Robert Karlson as only six players in the field will start round three under par.

One player in that group is Lamar senior M.J. Daffue who is tied for fifth at 1-under-par. Daffue opened the tournament with a 70 before posting a 1-over-par 73 on Friday. The two-time first-team All-Southland Conference selection opened his second round with a double bogey before playing the other 17 holes at 1-under-par.

Liberty leads the field of 14 teams with a two round score of even-par 576. SMU is six shots back in second place after rounds of 288 and 294. Florida, which had the best second round score of 1-under-par 287, is alone in third at 586, two shots better than Lamar and top seeded Auburn (588).

Texas Tech is just one stroke behind Lamar and Auburn at 589, followed by Tulsa (590), Indiana (591), Duke (592), UNLV (597), Louisiana-Lafayette (600), Charlotte (607), George Washington (622) and Mount St. Mary's (628).

Senior Xavier Feyaerts is the Cardinals' third golfer in a tie for 24th after rounds of 75 and 74. Feyaerts, who is 5-over-par through two rounds, finished his second round with 16 pars and a pair of bogeys.

One shot behind Feyaerts in a tie for 33rd is fellow senior Kevin Hesbois who registered back-to-back 75s. Hesbois opened on the back nine with a 3-over-par total before playing the front nine at even-par Friday.

Redshirt junior Erik Knudsen is the Cardinals' fifth golfer in a tie for 68th after a pair of 79s. Knudsen got off to a terrible start Friday, playing the first four holes at 8-over-par. He would then birdie his fifth hole before running off 13 straight pars to close his round.

LAMAR