Duke Climbs Into Tie for Seventh at SH Collegiate Masters

Saturday, March 12

Las Vegas, Nev.

All Day

Duke University

Day Two at Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters

Blue Devils Prepare for Hootie at Bulls Bay

Duke Climbs Into Tie for Seventh at SH Collegiate Masters

3/13/2011 12:02:00 AM | Men's Golf

By: Duke Sports Information

LAS VEGAS -- Sophomore Tim Gornik and senior Wes Roach posted under-par rounds on Saturday to help Duke move into a seventh place tie at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters. The Blue Devils posted the fourth-lowest round of the day with a four-over 292 to enter Sunday's final round with a 596 (+20).

Gornik started slowely with a double-bogey on No. 10 to open his second round of play. He regained a stroke with a birdie on the par 5 13th hole before slipping back to two-over with a bogey on No. 16. Gornik recovered with birdies on No. 17 and No. 18 to make the turn at even-par. The sophomore from Slovenia added seven pars and birdies on No. 4 and No. 8 to close the day with a two-under 70. Gornik enters Sunday's final round tied for 17th with a four-over 148.

Roach notched his fourth under-par round of the year with a one-under 71 in the second round. After opening with a bogey on teh par 4 10th hole, he birdied No. 11 and No. 13 to move to one-under. Roach suffered a double-bogey on No. 14 before parring the next four holes. He birdied the 417-yard par 4 first hole to get back to even-par. Following a bogey on No. 5, Roach carded birdies on No. 6 and No. 7 before closing the round with back-to-back pars. The Knoxville, Tenn., native is currently tied for 10th with a one-over 145.

Sophomore Brinson Paolini opened with a bogey on No. 10 before recovering with birdies on No. 14 and No. 15 to move to one-under. The Virginia Beach, Va., native carded seven pars after the turn but also a pair of bogeys to finish with a one-over 73. Paolini is tied for 34th overall with a seven-over 151.

Julian Suri is tied for 40th with a 152 (74-78). After playing the back nine at even-par with seven pars, one birdie and one bogey, he ran into trouble with a quad-bogey on the par 4 first hole. Suri had three more bogeys and a birdie over the final eight holes to finish with a 78.

Freshman Yaroslav Merkulov posted an eight-over 80 in the second round. He opened the day with a double-bogey and closed the round double-bogey and quad-bogey for his worst round of the season. Merkulov played holes No. 10 through No.7 at even-par. He is 71st with a +15 149.

California fired a 12-under 276 in the second round to grab a six stroke lead over Texas A&M with a six-under 570. Oklahoma State is third at +4 (580), while UCLA (+8, 584) and Georgia Tech (+12, 588) round out the top 5. Arizona State is sixth at +19, one shot ahead of Duke and host UNLV.

Jordan Russell (Texas A&M) has a two stroke lead over Morgan Hoffmann (Oklahoma State) with a nine-under 135 heading into the final round of play. Stephen Hale (California) is third with a six-under 138, while Ben An (California) and Patrick Cantlay (UCLA) round out the top 5 at three-under 141 and two-under 142, respectively.

Duke opens third round play on Sunday, March 13 beginning at 11 am. The Blue Devils will be paired with UNLV and TCU for the final round. Live scoring for the event is available at www.golfstat.com.