STILLWATER, Okla. – Isaiah Salinda's six-birdie outing at Karsten Creek Golf Club gave the Stanford men's golf team a lift Saturday during the second round of the NCAA Championships. Salinda, tied for ninth, finished with a 3-under-par 69 at the 7,460-yard track.
Three bogeys speckled Salinda's scoreboard, the penultimate coming on the par-3 seventh to bring him to even-par. Salinda then birdied Nos. 8 and 9 to turn at 2-under, then dipped to 3-under with a birdie on the par-5 14th. He closed with a bogey on the par-4 17th and a birdie on the par-5 18th.
Stanford (292-295) is 11-over through 36 holes.
Franklin Huang had the hot hand on the back nine, dropping four birdies to conclude his round with a 2-over 74. Jeffrey Swegle was five strokes better than his opening round with a 4-over 76, a score matched by David Snyder.
Brandon Wu was 10-over, and tied for 100 at 7-over through two rounds.
Sixth-ranked Alabama posted a 9-under-par 279 and Clemson's Bryson Nimmer wrapped up his first round logging an 8-under-par 64. Alabama's record-setting mark was the second time that the Karsten Creek course record was broken this week, as the Crimson Tide's number surpassed Northwestern's 8-under from Friday's opening round.
The Crimson Tide sit two strokes off the leaders, No. 13 Texas Tech, which posted a 1-under 287 to get to 5-under for the week. Tournament host and top-ranked Oklahoma State is second at 4-under. The Cowboys were one of just six teams to shoot under par on a Karsten Creek course that bared its teeth in the second-round of stroke play.
Oklahoma State, Alabama and Texas Tech are the only three teams under par through two rounds of stroke play.
Nimmer notched eight birdies and was bogey-free during his opening round, which he concluded Saturday morning. His 8-under 64 passed LSU's John Peterson, who shot a 7-under 65 during the 2011 NCAA Championships, for the Karsten Creek record.
Auburn's Brandon Mancheno is the current leader in the clubhouse at 6-under after firing the best round of any player on the course Saturday, shooting a six-under 66.
The third round begins Sunday morning, and at the conclusion of play, the field will be cut to the top 15 teams and the top nine individuals not on an advancing team. The remaining teams and players will advance to Monday's fourth and final round of stroke play.
