May 16, 2008
HOUSTON, Tex. - After being tied for 18th place, and 19 strokes back of the leader at the end of day one, the Argos have rebounded nicely, and have a four stroke lead after three rounds in the four day 72 hole national championship in Houston, Texas. Meanwhile, Kyle Scott and Matthew Galloway are among the seven golfers under par through three rounds. Kyle Scott is the overall leader at three under par, while Galloway had the best round of anyone on Friday with a five under par, and is now two under for the tournament, and tied for second place.
The Argos are four strokes ahead of Georgia College & State University, after shooting a four under par, 276. Georgia College & State University was the leader after round two with a one under par, but slipped to seven over par, with a round of 288 today. West Florida is now three over par, and the team leader going into the final round on Saturday. Meanwhile, North Alabama, St. Edward's, and University of Indianapolis are all tied for third place with a 15 over par score.
While Georgia College & State University had the best team round of 272 (-8) on Thursday, the Argos are the only team in the tournament with two rounds under par. The Argos shot a five under, 275 on Thursday, to go with Friday's best round of 276. The Argos are nine under par over the last 36 holes, which have made up for the troublesome day one score of 12 over par.
Meanwhile, Tobias Rosendahl turned in a two under par score on Friday to help the team scoring. Rosendahl had a rough first day, as his two over par score was disqualified, as he signed an inaccurate scorecard. Thus, he is not eligible for individual scoring, while his round two, three, and four, can count toward the team score. Had he not been disqualified, his score so far would have placed him in a tie for 8th best. That would have put three Argos in the top 10 in the national tournament.
Senior Federico Damus turned in a three over par, 73, and has a total score of six over par, which is good enough for a 38th place tie. Otto Bonning carded a four over, 74 on Friday, and is currently eight over par, and in a tie for 61st place. During the second round, on Thursday, the Argos had four players score even par, while Kyle Scott turned in a five under par score. That marks the only team in the tournament to have a single round with all five players shooting even par or better.
The final round is tomorrow, and will be followed by the crowning of the 2008 National Champions. Even though the Argos will trying to catch everyone else after round one, they will go into the final round with all other teams trying to catch them. On five other occasions this season, the Argos have gone into the final round as the leader, and each time they have held on for the tournament victory.
