April 29, 2011
STANFORD, Calif. - Four teams are within four strokes of the lead at the halfway point of the 2011 Pacific-10 Conference Men's Golf Championships being held at Stanford Golf Course.
USC (709; +9) holds a one stroke lead over Oregon (710; +10) at the 36-hole mark. Stanford (712; +12) and UCLA (713; +13) sit in third and fourth place, respectively, heading into the third round on Saturday. California is in fifth place at 721 (357-364; +21), 12 strokes off the pace.
The Trojans carded rounds of 355 and 354 on a clear and breezy day to take a one shot lead over Oregon heading into Saturday's third round. The Ducks got off to a blazing start during the morning 18, dipping to 11-under on their first nine holes before ultimately finishing at +1 (351) for their morning round.
Stanford finished the first round in third place behind the play of seniors Steve Ziegler and Graham Brockington, who carded rounds of 69 and 70 in the morning 18.
The Cardinal shot a 358 in the afternoon to move into third place, one stroke ahead of the Bruins, who slipped to 360.
Alex Moore of Oregon State and Martin Trainer of USC are tied for the individual lead at 136 (-4). Daniel Miernicki of Oregon is two shots back at -2 (69-69-138) while Brockington and Ziegler are part of a large group tied for fourth place at -1.
After shooting a one-over par round of 71 in the morning, Moore fired a 5-under 65 in the afternoon to grab a share of the lead. He made the turn at one over after bogies on the eighth and ninth holes only to shoot a back nine 29, thanks to birdies on 11, 13, 14 and 15, along with an eagle 3 on the par-5 16th hole.
Trainer sandwiched 16 straight pars in between birdies on holes No. 1 and 18 for an opening round 68. After making the turn at even par on his afternoon round, he picked up three birdies and one bogey on the backside to mirror his first round score.
Brockington used six birdies to offset six bogies on his morning card and finished his first 18 holes at even par 70. He birdied the par-3 17th hole on his second round to get into red numbers, finishing with a 69.
Ziegler bounced back from a double bogey 6 on the par 4 fifth hole in his morning round with birdies on holes 8, 9, 14 and 17 to finish with a first round 69. He birdied the par 5 16th hole to get back to even par on his afternoon round.
Stanford sophomore Andrew Yun carded rounds of 72 and 70 and is tied for 14th place at 142 (+2). His morning round was highlighted by an eagle on the par-5 16th hole and was one-under on his afternoon rund before picking up a bogey on his final hole.
Sophomore Steven Kearney is tied for 31st at 146 (+5) after rounds of 71 and 75.
Freshman Cameron Wilson is tied for 36th at 147 on rounds of 72 and 75.
Junior David Chung is tied for 58th after turning in rounds of 82 and 74. He had four double bogies on his morning round en route to a 82. He was six-over on the front side in his afternoon round before fighting back to pick up four birdies on the backside, including three in a row on holes 14-16.
The third round of the Pac-10 Men's Golf Championships will get underway on Saturday at 9:00 a.m. as teams will tee off on holes No. 1 and 10. Stanford will tee off at 9:48 on the first hole.