Van Der Wath in contention, No. 15 Jags sixth after Round 3 at NAIA Tournament
DALTON, Ga. – Golf is a game of patience and the No. 15-ranked UHV men's golf team showed that on Thursday during the third round of the NAIA Men's Golf Championship at Dalton Golf and Country Club.
The Jaguars (305-303-300—908) continued their upward trend by shaving three shots off their Round 2 score and moving up one spot to sixth on the leaderboard, seven shots off British Columbia in fifth place and 19 shots off leader Texas Wesleyan.
"I think we did a better job of giving ourselves looks and knowing where to miss," said head coach Garrett Adair. "The name of the game this week is 'just find a way.' These guys are really strong at limiting the mistakes and finding a way to make pars, and putting themselves in the best position."
Three sub-75 rounds from Joshua Van Der Wath, Enzo Dakiche and Paul Chopin helped UHV inch closer to a second Top 5 finish at the NAIA Tournament. For context, the Par 72 track played at an average of 76.71 strokes across 87 rounds on Thursday.
Van Der Wath opened the third round with 13 consecutive pars before closing the final five holes at one-over with a birdie to shoot 73 and sit T-6 (71-75-73—219) heading into the final round.
The junior from Johannesburg, South Africa, is three shots back from Truett-McConnell's Peyton Shedd.
"It's massive when guys know Josh is going to stay steady all week and give us a good score," Adair said. "It helps take a little bit of nerves and stress off the rest of the guys. I walked with Josh for probably 11 holes today and he's one of the best at sticking to his plan. He's strategic. He knows where to place it. He doesn't change anything. It just shows how true he's stayed to his character. I look forward to him going out tomorrow and sticking with his gameplan to hopefully put up another good score and leading the team."
Dakiche, a sophomore from Paris, France, got off to one of the hottest starts of all golfers on Thursday, shooting a bogey-free three-under on the front nine with birdies on holes No. 1, 4 and 9 en route to a one-over 73. That has the reigning Red River Athletic Conference Golfer of the Year sitting T-21 (77-74-73—224) entering the final round.
His third round showing propelled him eight spots up the leaderboard.
"We needed Enzo to go out and start fast to put up some numbers and make the climb up the leaderboard," Adair said. "He did just that. He had some bumps on the back nine, but Enzo has the ability to make low numbers. So, it was good to see that start."
Chopin, from Poitiers, France, had his best round of the tournament with a two-over 74 on Thursday to lift him 50 spots to T-61 (79-81-74—234).
The sophomore had a pair of birdies, 12 pars and nothing worse than bogey on the challenging course, which saw nobody under par for the tournament after Thursday.
Freshman Nathan Biais, also from France, sits T-46 (78-73-80—231) while fellow freshman Hayden Hardwick is in 81st (84-83-85—252) after three rounds.
The Jaguars are scheduled to tee off at 7:50 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday with British Columbia and Keiser University (Fla.).