Oregon State leads at Fresno State Lexus Golf Classic
FRESNO, Calif. (Mar. 5, 2012) -- FRESNO, Calif. - Four Oregon State golfers are under-par after Monday's 36 holes of play to help the Beavers take a commanding clubhouse lead with a 13-under 707 entering Tuesday's final round at the Fresno State Lexus Classic.
Oregon State leads the 16-team field after finishing with a 5-under 355 in the morning round and an 8-under 352 in the afternoon round to sit eight strokes ahead of UC Irvine and Sacramento State, which both finished with a 5-under 715. Fellow Pac-12 Conference members Washington State (3-under 717) and Arizona (2-under 718) round out the top-five.
"It was a total team effort today," Oregon State head coach Jon Reehoorn said. "The guys played very well. For the most part I think they did a great job of managing their games and making sure they left themselves in the best possible places to make putts on the greens."
"The greens are pretty fast and it is very important to leave yourself in good spots to have good birdie putts," he added. "It was an emphasis during the practice round and they were very good today."
The Beavers were in second place after the morning round, trailing Washington State by four strokes, but Moore and Sherwood got hot in the afternoon with each carding a 3-under 69. Moore had a bogey-free round that included birdies on the par-5 12th, par-4 15th and par-5 16th holes, while Sherwood took a more adventurous path with six birdies and three bogeys.
Michael Yang of UC Irvine leads the tournament with a 9-under 70-65--135 and Alan Jun of UC Irvine is tied with Sherwood for second after finishing with a 5-under 71-68--139.
The Fresno State Lexus Classic is a 6-count-5 tournament so Oregon State included rounds by senior Casey King - a 2-over 74 in the morning and 1-under 71 in the afternoon - in their team score. Junior Nick Chianello finished the first day with a 4-over 75-73--148.
Oregon State goes for its 35th team title in school history and second this season after winning the Pacific Invitational in Stockton, Calif., in November when the Beavers defeated Nevada on the first playoff hole.
"The weather tomorrow is not looking good," Reehoorn said. "We need to be ready for the worst and take it one shot at a time. In a 6-count-5 format anything can happen. So we need to keep it going."
The final round begins at 8 a.m. on Tuesday with tee times off the first and 10th tees and can be followed with live scoring at golfstat.com.
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ABOUT THE Nick Watney Collegiate
54 hole men's college tournament hosted by
Fresno State University. Team (best four scores out of
five players each round) and individual competitions.
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