OSU Rises To Sixth Place In NCAA Championships

STILLWATER, Okla. – The Oklahoma State men's golf team nearly duplicated its first-round effort in the second round of the NCAA Championships Wednesday, but rose to sixth place going into the third round.

The Cowboys' round of 293 was one shot worse than their performance in Round 1 and brought them to a cumulative total of 585, or 9-over par. That places them 12 shots behind Georgia Tech, which led at the end of a second consecutive round.

"I think we let our own golf course push around a little bit the last couple of days," head coach Mike McGraw said. "Peter (Uihlein) played a fantastic round today, so that was good for us, but we kind of let it push us around a little bit."

Uihlein recovered from a mediocre showing in the first round and shot his way into contention with a 69 Wednesday. That jumped him from a tie for 34th place overall to a tie for sixth.

"I just have to fine-tune some things," Uihlein said. "I didn't hit it particularly well and I will try to figure it out on the range. We will see. I hope there is some wind and we can be a little bit more creative and not have to be so precise when there is no wind. Hopefully it blows tomorrow."

The performances of the other four Cowboys reversed between rounds. Freshman Talor Gooch and sophomore Sean Einhaus led the team by shooting 72s in the first round, but both struggled mightily Wednesday.

The two started the day tied for 19th, but Gooch shot a 77 to drop into a tie for 46th. Einhaus had even more issues, posting an 80 that dropped him all the way to 79th.

Morgan Hoffman turned things around from a forgettable first day and shot a 73 to move up 18 spots. Kevin Tway got off to a rough start, but recovered to shoot a 74.

"I was real proud of Kevin (Tway) today," McGraw said. "He tripled that second hole and shot two over today. Had a double some place in the back. It was nice that he fought back hard."

Despite the Cowboys' somewhat disappointing showings through the first rounds, they still have a legitimate chance at a championship. The top eight teams after the third round will advance to match play Friday, which will determine the NCAA title.

"Right now, I'm just concerned with playing a good round of golf tomorrow," McGraw said. "I just want to go out tomorrow, top-to-bottom, one through five, everybody put together a pretty good round and I'd be a little happier I think."

The Cowboys will begin the third round at 12:20 p.m. Thursday and will be grouped with Georgia and Alabama.