March 31, 2012

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The South Carolina men’s golf team posted rounds of 284 (-4) and 285 (-3) on Saturday to finish the day in sixth place at the Insperity Augusta State Invitational at Forest Hills Golf Club.

The Gamecocks are in contention heading into the final day as they trail tournament leaders Texas and Augusta State by 10 strokes.

“We put together two solid rounds,” South Carolina head coach Bill McDonald said. “This is a really good field, and a lot of teams played well this afternoon. We just lost a few shots here and there, but overall I thought we looked really good. We have to get it together for tomorrow. It will probably be a shootout because a lot of teams are stacked up around us.”

Senior Wesley Bryan led the way for the Gamecocks with rounds of 69 (-3) and 71 (-1). The Chapin, S.C., native is in a tie for ninth with a score of 140 (-4). Bryan came out on fire in the first round, recording birdies on four of his first seven holes to move to 4-under. However, he recorded just one more birdie the rest of the way and had two bogeys to finish the round at 3-under. He had a rough start to his second round with bogeys on two of his first five holes but he settled down to close out the round with five birdies, two bogeys and six pars.

Two more Gamecocks positioned themselves in the top 20, as junior Dykes Harbin and freshman Will Murphy are tied for 20th with a two-round score of 142 (-2). Harbin carded rounds of 72 (E) and 70 (-2), while Murphy put together consecutive rounds of 1-under 71.

Freshman Caleb Sturgeon is in a tie for 45th with a score of 146 (+2) as he turned in rounds of 72 (E) and 74 (+2). Sophomore Blaine Woodruff finished the day in a tie for 68th with a score of 151 (+7) after shooting rounds of 78 (+6) and 73 (+1).

Texas and Augusta State share the lead with a two-round score of 559 (-17). Illinois is in third place with a score of 564, followed by TCU (566) and Tennessee (568). TCU’s Julien Brun is on top of the individual leaderboard after shooting rounds of 68 (-4) and 65 (-7).

The final round is scheduled to begin on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. Live scoring is available at golfstatresults.com.

SOUTH CAROLINA RESULTS
T9. Wesley Bryan 69-71=140
T20. Dykes Harbin 72-70=142
T20. Will Murphy 71-71=142
T45. Caleb Sturgeon 72-74=146
T68. Blaine Woodruff 78-73=151

TEAM STANDINGS
T1. Texas 282-277=559
T1. Augusta State 283-276=559
3. Illinois 291-273=564
4. TCU 290-276=566
5. Tennessee 291-277=568
6. South Carolina 284-285=569
7. Coastal Carolina 287-284=571
8. Oklahoma State 290-284=574
9. Baylor 291-284=575
10. Virginia Tech 293-284=577
T11. SMU 299-279=578
T11. Lamar 292-286=578
T11. Houston 294-284=578
T14. Georgia State 292-290=582
T14. Clemson 299-283=582
16. S. Carolina-Aiken 298-287=585