Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
NCAA Regionals
Bucknell Shoots 300 in Second Round of NCAA Golf Regionals, Now in 26th Place
5/19/2006 8:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
May 19, 2006
TUCSON, Ariz. -- On a day when many of the top-seeded teams annihilated the Omni Tucson National Golf Course, Bucknell also had a strong round going until some struggles late in the afternoon left the Bison with a team score of 300 and spot in 26th place at the NCAA West Regional. For the second straight day, senior Ben Pellicani (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) posted Bucknell's best score, a 1-over-par 73.
The Bison, who shot 297 in the opening round, are at 21-over for the tournament. Near the end of round two Bucknell was as high as 23rd place, but the team combined to go 7-over-par on holes 16, 17 and 18. Those three difficult finishing holes hampered Pellicani, who was at 3-under on the day before making bogeys at 16 and 17 and a double bogey at 18. Still, Pellicani is even for the tournament and in a tie for 57th place.
Thanks to an eagle at the par-5 eighth hole, Keita Aoki (Tokyo, Japan/St. Mary's International School) also had a sub-par round going. He was at 1-under through 14 holes but double bogeyed 15 and bogeyed 16 to finish with a 2-over 74. Also for the Bison, Charlie Waddell (Wilmette, Ill./Lake Forest Academy) shot his second straight 76, Chas Wagner (Oakmont, Pa./Hampton) shot 77 and Kyle Moran (Greenwich, Conn./Brunswick School) carded an 80.
Top-seeded Florida had grabbed the first-round lead with a sizzling 15-under 273 on Thursday, but three other teams -- Arizona, North Carolina State and Arizona State -- all shot 273 in round two. The host Wildcats are now 24-under for the tournament and have a three-shot lead over N.C. State and Florida. Arizona State is five back at -19, followed by East Tennessee State (-12), Loyola Marymount (-11), Fresno State (-10), UC-Irvine (-9), Washington (-7) and Nevada (-7). The top 10 teams advance to the NCAA finals in Sunriver, Ore., May 31-June 3.
Utah's Dustin Pimm leads the individual standings at 10-under par. Nathan Spoon of N.C. State is a shot back, while 56 of the 141 players are under par.
Scores are not nearly as low at the other two regionals. In the East at Lake Nona Golf Club in Orlando, Fla., defending national champion Georgia leads at 2-over par, two shots better than UNLV. In the Central Regional at Sand Ridge Golf Club outside Cleveland, Ohio, Oklahoma State (-3) has a nine-shot lead over second-place Northwestern.
The Bison tee off Saturday at 3:29 p.m. EDT (12:29 p.m. in Tucson) in the third and final round at Tucson National.
