Bulls Increase Lead to 19 Shots on Day 2 of The American Championship
TEAM SCORES
PLAYER SCORES
By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
PALM HARBOR, Fla., APRIL 23, 2018 – No. 21 USF is on the verge of a four-peat at the American Athletic Conference Men's Golf Championship after distancing itself from the field in Monday's second round.
Head coach
Steve Bradley's Bulls (-5) carded a 5-under 279 and increased their advantage to 19 shots with one more round to play at Innisbrook Resort & Golf Club's Copperhead Course (par 71, 7,125 yards).
USF has led in each of the last 11 rounds at the conference championship after registering wire-to-wire wins the past three seasons at the event. With four title victories this season, USF is one more tournament win away from matching the program record of five set in 2014-15.
On top of owning the team lead,
Claudio Correa (-4) will take a two-shot advantage into the final round after carding a 4-under 67. The senior from Santiago, Chile went 2-under on both sides of the course and collected five total birdies.
Cristian DiMarco is right behind Correa in a tie for second at 2-under. The senior from Longwood, Fla., made two of his three total birdies during his 2-under run on the back nine.
Also in the title mix is senior
Jimmy Jones (Tampa), who is in fourth place at 1-under after carding a 70. USF has four players in the top 10 with senior
Priyanshu Singh (Delhi, India) tied for eighth place at 2-over.
USF Scores
Quotable
Head coach Steve Bradley on the Bulls' stellar second round:
"They played incredible today. We started in the rain and we thought we were going to get another band come through about 11 o'clock and that never materialized. You couldn't control the weather. The only thing you could control was how they played and how they played the golf course. We didn't get off to necessarily a very good start. Around holes 8-12, we really got some momentum going and played that back side really well. For us to have a nice lead going into the final round is encouraging for sure."
Bradley on having at least three players in the hunt for the conference individual title:
"I think that's what has made us so good this year. They've all pushed each other to be better and at the same time, it's made our team a lot better. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, not only to see how we handle a lead, but also how they handle getting a chance to win a conference championship individually. It's not just going to be the three of them. There's a couple of guys in this field that can go out and win it, too."
Notable
- USF leads the field with 120 total pars, 30 birdies and a par-4 scoring average of 4.07 (+6).
- The Bulls are also tied for the best par-3 scoring average (3.02, +1).
- Correa leads the field with nine total birdies while Singh is close behind with seven.
- DiMarco leads the field with 28 pars.
- DiMarco and Correa are tied for the top par-4 scoring average at the tournament (3.89, -2).
- Jones is tied for the best par-5 scoring average at 4.50 (-4).
Up Next
Kyle Flexsenhar will lead off USF's final round from the first hole Tuesday at 8:55 a.m. Follow the action in progress at the official Golfstat.com scoring page
HERE.
The
American Digital Network will provide coverage of the final round beginning at 11:30 a.m.
About USF Men's Golf
USF men's golf returns six players from the 2016-17 team that captured the program's third consecutive American Athletic Conference Championship title. Head coach Steve Bradley has been at the helm for all three league championship runs and guided the Bulls back to the final rounds of the NCAA Championship in 2016. Follow @USFMGolf on Twitter for the latest information concerning the program.
