Men's Golf assumes lead at NCAA Austin Regional
May 15, 2009 NCAA Austin Regional round 2 results/round 3 tee times AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas junior Lance Lopez fired his second sub-70 round in as many days to retain the individual lead and help lift the Longhorns into the team lead Friday afternoon in round two of the 2009 NCAA Men's Golf Austin Regional at the par 71, 7,412-yard University of Texas Golf Club. After ending the opening round in second place, nine shots behind 18-hole leader Texas Tech, the Longhorns carded a one-over 285 - a team best at the UT Golf Club with its new 7,412-yard layout - to take the team lead after 36 holes. Texas sits in first at eight-over par for the tournament, while Texas Tech holds second at 10-over par. Florida, the tournament's second seed, is in third at 12-over par, and UNLV sits in fourth at 17-over par. Top-seeded Stanford is in fifth place at 25-over par, just one shot ahead of sixth-place Lamar. The low five teams and the low individual not on one of the five advancing teams will move on to the 2009 NCAA Men's Golf Championships set for May 26-30 in Toledo, Ohio. Lopez (Missouri City, Texas) birdied the fourth and sixth holes to make the turn with a 37 before catching fire on the back nine. Lopez sank birdies at the 11th, 12th, 14th and 18th holes to finish the back nine with a 32 and end the second round with a two-under 69. Combined with his opening-round 68, Lopez enjoyed his first back-to-back sub-70 rounds since his freshman season when he carded rounds of 69 and 65 at the 2006 Jerry Pate Intercollegiate in Birmingham, Ala. It marked his first tournament with two sub-70 rounds since the 2007 Turtle Bay Intercollegiate in Kahuku, Hawaii. At five-under par for the tournament, Lopez holds a four-shot lead over UNLV's Eddie Olson heading into Saturday's final round. Sophomore Bobby Hudson, the course record holder at The University of Texas Golf Club, birdied the third, sixth and 14th holes on his way to an even-par 71. Hudson (Memphis, Tenn.) is tied for fifth place at one-over par for the tournament after 36 holes. Sophomore Donald Constable also chipped in an even-par 71 and sank birdies at the seventh, 11th and 13th holes. Constable (Wayzata, Minn.) is tied for 18th place at five-over par heading into Saturday's final round. Freshman Dylan Frittelli carded a three-over 74 on the strength of birdies at the first, 14th and 16th holes. Frittelli (Pretoria, South Africa) is tied for 29th place overall at seven-over par. Junior Charlie Holland rebounded from an 81 on Thursday to card a three-over 74 on Friday after sinking birdies at the fourth, 14th, 15th and 18th holes. Holland (Dallas, Texas) is tied for 51st place at 13-over par for the tournament. Texas tees off in Saturday's final round at 9:40 a.m. Central. 2009 NCAA Men's Golf Austin Regional POST-ROUND QUOTES On the team's approach to Saturday's final round: I just need to do the same thing that I've done, and we need to do the same thing as a team, which is to keep playing our game. We know this golf course well. We need to go out and have another solid round tomorrow. TEXAS JUNIOR Lance Lopez TEXAS HEAD COACH John Fields On entering Saturday's final round with the tournament lead: It's definitely better than the alternative. It is exciting for us. I think our guys are really going to enjoy that tomorrow. They know they've got another great day in them tomorrow. I'm sure the conditions will be difficult, just like they were today. So, we'll get focused and ready for tomorrow. On what he will tell his team heading into the final round: What they need to do is play one shot at a time. They need to enjoy themselves and this great facility that we have. They need to go out there and play the best that they possibly can and see where that puts us in the end. But, right now, this team is playing some really fine golf, and they should be proud of that.
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