Johnson Continues to Shine on Day Two of NCAA National Championship
5/26/2018 10:55:00 PM | Men's Golf
STILLWATER, Okla.- The No. 29 Kent State men's golf team is through two rounds of the 2018 NCAA National Championship and senior Chase Johnson is making a run at the individual title.
On Saturday, the Flashes had a late afternoon start because a handful of teams were still finishing their round one, but that didn't throw off Johnson who has broken out as one of the top performers in the field. He will enter round three tied for second at 5-under par 139. Johnson has been consistent from start to finish, posting a 68 in round one and a 71 in round two.
"Chase Johnson played another great round of golf today," said head coach Herb Page. "He's holding us right in there."
In the second round, Johnson carded a 1-under score with back-to-back birdies on No. 4 and 5, followed by 11, 14, and the 18th hole, a par-5.
As a team, Kent State is currently tied for sixth at 3-over par 579 through two rounds. The Flashes shot a second-round score of 3-over-291. Kent State sits in a three-way tie with No. 4 Vanderbilt and No. 14 Clemson. Texas Tech leads the tournament at 5-under par, followed by tournament host Oklahoma State at 4-under.
"We are halfway home and are in a really good spot and situation," said Page. "The top-15 go on tomorrow, and we just need to keep playing like this. A little disappointing the way we finished where we bogeyed the final hole because, at this level, you need to finish the round on top. I still don't think we've played our best round of golf yet, we just need to go out there and play our golf."
Ian Holt, who sits in a tie for 46th, fired a 1-over 72 round today. He stayed consistent and went 16 holes for par or less and birdied his first hole.
A huge improvement from yesterday's round was Gisli Sveinbergsson who carded a nine-stroke better round at 1-over 73. Sveinbergsson had a flawless opening nine with two birdies.
Teammates Bjarki Petursson and Josh Gilkison posted scores of 74 (+2) and 75 (+3), respectively, combining for six birdies.
A quick turnaround for the Flashes, as they tee off tomorrow at 7:55 a.m. Kent State will be paired with Clemson and Illinois and will tee off from the first hole. At the conclusion of play, the field will be cut to the top 15 teams and the top nine individuals not on an advancing team. The remaining teams and players will advance to Monday's fourth and final round of stroke play.
Players Mentioned
