No. 15 Men’s Golf surges up leaderboard on cut day at NAIA Tournament
DALTON, Ga. – The message to the No. 15-ranked UHV men's golf team was simple heading into the 72nd NAIA Men's Golf Championship at Dalton Golf and Country Club.
Head coach Garrett Adair wanted the team to enjoy the moment of competing for a national championship and not let the stage get bigger than it is.
The Jaguars responded on Wednesday by shooting a team score of 303 and moving six spots up the leaderboard to seventh (305-303—608, +32), making the cut of the top 15 teams to the final rounds on Thursday and Friday. They are 19 shots off the lead, held by Texas Wesleyan (295-294—589).
"You don't get a lot of these opportunities," Adair said. "We're doing something not a lot of others get to. College careers come and go really fast. So, I want them to enjoy it all – take a few more deep breaths, enjoy nature, enjoy the earth and enjoy being out there playing the game we love."
UHV climbed the leaderboard on a day when Dalton Golf and Country Club played possibly the toughest it might all week. Round 2 at the Par 72 track featured only six rounds of par or better from the field of 153 golfers. Seventeen of the 18 holes played above par as only two teams fired sub-300 rounds.
"It was playing very tough today, but I think that fits us a lot better," Adair said. "Our guys are used to grinding it out and putting up decent scores when the conditions are tough. Tomorrow, we're going off early. Hopefully with a little bit of rain tonight, it might soften up a little bit. But we're excited to go out there. We really don't have anything to lose. We want to go out there, put up some scores and surprise a few people."
Joshua Van Der Wath remains the top Jaguar on the leaderboard in ninth (71-75—146) after a three-over in Round 2. The junior from Johannesburg, South Africa, opened with six consecutive pars and finished the front nine at one-over before flirting with the top of the leaderboard by getting to two-under for the tournament with birdies on each the Par 5 10th and 13th holes to open the back nine.
Nathan Biais (78-73—151) and Enzo Dakiche (77-74—151) share 29th place heading into Thursday's third round.
Biais, a freshman from Chassors, France, who was recently named to the Ping NAIA All-Region team, set the pace for UHV on Wednesday with his one-over – the team's lowest score of the round – with three birdies against four bogeys. That helped him climb 45 spots.
Dakiche, a sophomore from Paris, France, used a strong two-under finish on the back nine to climb 31 spots. He was bogey-free on the first seven holes of the back nine with birdies on the Par 5 10th and 13th holes, and the Par 4 15th.
"Nathan, Enzo and Josh – they've all been very consistent," Adair said. "This course is very hard and we're starting to find the best places to miss and the best places to give yourself angles at the pins. They've done a good job of limiting the misses and the huge mistakes."
Paul Chopin turned in an 81 (79-81—160, T-111) and Hayden Hardwick improved one shot with an 83 (84-83—167, T-141) on Tuesday.
The Jaguars are scheduled to be part of the first groups out at 8 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday.