After going a wretched 77-77-80 at the HL tourney last month and then opening with a 5-over 76 in the first round of the Urbana, Ill., regional, the fifth-year player from Louisville shot a scorching 4-under 67 to match the lowest score in Tuesday’s second round and give the Raiders a slight nudge up the leaderboard.
He opened with a bogey but ripped off five birdies without a blemish after that.
He jumped 33 spots in the individual standings into a tie for 24th at 1-over-par.
“That was really cool to see. He’s been working so hard this spring, and he was telling me earlier this year how he was ready to break out. Maybe he put too much pressure on himself and tried too hard. It was great to see him put it together,” fourth-year coach Conner Lash said.
Another fifth-year player, Brock Rumpke, also showed he had no plans to end his career with a whimper. He had a 72 after starting with a 78.
Sophomore Timmy Hollenbeck improved by four shots with a 73.
Junior Shane Ochs had two holes to go when play was halted for lightning. After an almost three-hour delay, he finished with a par and double-bogey for a 74.
“We played well. I know we took a double-bogey, and the talk is always to try to eliminate those big numbers. But we made some birdies and kind of scrapped it around. We proved to ourselves we can play with these guys,” Lash said.
The individual leader is UNLV’s Caden Fioroni at 7-under, while three-time All-Big Ten pick Jackson Buchanan of Illinois and Cincinnati’s Ryan Ford, competing as an individual, are one stroke behind.
No. 14 Illinois, hosting the event at the 7,533-yard Atkins Golf Club, is 10-under and has a three-shot lead on second-ranked Oklahoma State and UNLV.
The Raiders, who opened with a 15-over-par 299, fired a two-over 286 to climb from last place into a tie for 11th with Houston in the 13-team field at 17-over-par, just ahead of North Carolina State (plus-22) with one round to go.
They’re within striking range of Long Beach State (plus-12), Pacific and Illinois State (plus-10) and 10th-ranked North Carolina (plus-9).
“We kept telling ourselves, ‘There’s still more in the tank.’ I think it’s more getting us to BELIEVE that, and we showed it today,” Lash said.
“North Carolina shot 1-over, we shot 2-over, Texas Tech shot 3-over. We beat some highly ranked teams in the top-40.”
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