Buies Creek, N.C. ? Stetson senior Tommy Parker (Palm Beach, Fla.) shot a three under par 69 in the second round to move up into a tie for 12th place overall after 36 holes of the Atlantic Sun Conference Men's Golf Championships at Keith Hills Golf Club on Tuesday. The Hatters recorded an eight-stroke improvement on their first round score but remain in 10th place at 16 over par with 18 holes left to play tomorrow.
After an even par front nine, Parker made his move with birdies on 13, 14 and 16 to shoot 33 on the home half of the golf course and come in with one of eight 69s recorded by the field today, the low score of the second round. Sophomore Michael Stewart (New Smyrna Beach, Fla.) shot one over par 73 and is now tied for 37th at +6 while freshman Sam Ryder (Longwood, Fla.) carded a 74 to put himself in 41st place at +8 overall. Junior Dave McAndrew (Barrington, R.I.) delivered the final Hatter counting score of the day, a 76 that left him tied for 31st at five over par after two rounds. Sophomore Gabe Costa (Tequesta, Fla.) shot 78 and is tied for 45th place at 10 over par.
Host Campbell played steadily in Round 2, improving from -9 after 18 holes to -11 after 36 holes, although its lead has shrunk to seven strokes over defending champion North Florida. Kennesaw State (even), Florida Gulf Coast (+3), Mercer (+5), Belmont (+7), ETSU (+8), USC Upstate (+14) and Jacksonville (+14) are also ahead of Stetson with Lipscomb bringing up the rear at +27.
The individual race is up for grabs as Campbell's Vaita Guillaume and Kennesaw State's Michael Tulacz are tied at -6 heading into the final round, one stroke ahead of UNF's Jeff Dennis. Those three will make up the final pairing of the day tomorrow. Eight other golfers also stand in the five-stroke gap between Parker and the leaders.
The Hatters will tee off in the final round paired with Lipscomb golfers starting at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning. Live scoring for the A-Sun Championships can be found at the following link: http://golfstatresults.com//public/leaderboards/team/static/team_players_1473.html
