Tigers Rally To Make Cut On Day 2 Of NCAA Tourney
Wittenberg tied for 13th to narrowly move inside cut line halfway through national championship.
DESTIN, Fla. – For the second straight year, the Wittenberg men's golf team put together a second-day charge to make the cut by the most narrow of margins at the NCAA Division III Championships.
The Tigers finished the second round as part of a three-way tie for 13th place after carding a 302 on the Links course at the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort. Wittenberg stood 16th after posting a score of 304 on the more challenging Raven course in Tuesday's opening round.
Transylvania and Texas-Tyler share the lead in the tournament with matching scores of 579. Wittenberg stands 27 strokes off the pace, but the Tigers are one of 15 teams with the opportunity to continue competing for the 2013 NCAA Division III National Championship. Wittenberg, Central (Iowa) and Greensboro all finished the first two rounds with scores of 606 to edge out Redlands by four strokes for the last three spots.
"It seems like déjà vu all over again," said Head Coach Jeff Roope, channeling his inner Yogi Berra. "We were tied with Greensboro last year too, waiting around to see if we could maybe get into a playoff, only to have a couple teams drop behind us and send us through the cut. We're hoping to make the most of our good fortune."
The last two rounds will be played on the Raven course. Wittenberg has the earliest tee times on Thursday, with the Tigers opening up on the back nine along with Central and Greensboro.
Individually, Wittenberg is led after two rounds by 2012 second-team All-American David Wetterich (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle), who carded a 74 and now stands 19th overall with a two-day total of 147. The junior second-team All-North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) honoree is followed closely in the standings by junior Ben Hogenkamp (Minster, Ohio/Minster), who moved up 36 spots in the standings with a team-best 73 in the second round. He stands 30th with a total of 149.
Making an even bigger move on Day 2 was senior two-time All-American Craig Osterbrock (Wilmington, Ohio/Wilmington), who climbed into the top 70 with a 74. His two-round total of 154 is good for 69th in the overall standings.
Rounding things out for Wittenberg, sophomore Alex Andrews (Kirtland, Ohio/Gilmour Academy) stands 89th with a two-round total of 156, and freshman Sam Geise (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) checks in at 136th with a score of 162.