PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - Playing against the nation's best and at one of the nation's best golf courses, the No. 40 North Texas men's golf team is in a three-way tie for second place, just three strokes off the lead after the second round of the John Hayt Collegiate Invitational.
In a tournament that features four-top-25 teams and nine teams ranked in the top-50, the Mean Green is only three shots behind the clubhouse leader No. 17 UCF after a second round of 298. North Texas is tied with No. 8 Arkansas and No. 42 Tennessee for place with a two-round score of 591. The field of 15 teams is playing at the famed TPC Sawgrass Course.
North Texas is ahead of No. 13 North Florida, No. 23 LSU, No. 27 UAB, No. 42 TCU, and No. 49 Tulsa heading into the final round. The Mean Green is going after its first team win of the season.
All five players for North Texas shot either a 1-over or 2-over par on the day as the Mean Green was the only team not to have a player shoot over 75.
Rodolfo Cazaubon, Carlos Ortiz, and Jason Roets all were 1-over 73 for the day. Cazaubon is tied for seventh place with an even-par score of 144 after two rounds. Cazaubon is five strokes off the lead heading into the final round.
Ortiz had a wild round of 1-under par, after starting the round off at 4-over par through the first seven holes, Ortiz went 3-under in the final 12 holes to fire a 73. He is tied for 23rd place.
Roets had nearly the same adventurous round as Ortiz with a 73 that featured four birdies, five bogeys, and nine pars on the day. He is tied for 35th place.
Curtis Donahoe and Ty Spinella shot second rounds of 2-over par 74. Donahoe was very steady on the day with 16 pars and only two bogeys in his round and is tied with Ortiz for 23rd place. Spinella took a different route to his 2-over par. After a triple bogey on the second hole, Spinella bounced back with four birdies, including two straight on 17 and 18 to finish his round.
The final round is tomorrow and live stats can be found at www.golfstat.com.
