Feb. 8, 2010

Golfstat Tournament Page

Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. - With play suspended due to darkness and the teams needing to complete as many as four holes, Josh Gallman led the Upstate charge in the JU Invitational, standing 27th in a field that contains three of the nation's top 40 teams at the PLAYERS Stadium Course at the TPC Sawgrass Monday.

The second round will continue at 8:30 Tuesday morning prior to the start of the final round of play.

Playing on a windy day against its toughest field to date, and on one of the world's best courses, the USC Upstate men's golf team struggled with its consistency and stands 15th in the 15-team field. The Spartans turned in a 328 in the first round and stood 14th heading into the second round of play. However, Upstate struggled throughout the second round and stands 15th, three shots back of Murray State in 14th.

"We hit the practice tee this morning at 7:30 and left the course at 6:30 in the dark," said Upstate head coach Todd Lawton. "We played 33 of our 36 holes and it was a long day, no doubt. We started the round with promise this morning as Bryan Otis hit the famed island 17th with his first shot of the day and made par. Josh and Michael both birdied their first hole and gave us a fast start. Those birdies proved to be some of the only ones we had in the first round."

East Tennessee State, ranked 39th in the latest Golfstat ranking, opened with a 303 and was second heading into the second round behind 23rd-ranked Clemson. However, the Buccaneers hit their stride in the second round and played their way into a tie for the lead with the Tigers at 14-over-par. No. 34 Wake Forest (+26, 308) stood third on the leaderboard when play was suspended and was followed by East Carolina (+32, 307), Charleston Southern (+40, 311), Liberty (+43, 315), Jacksonville (+43, 315), Jacksonville State (+47, 319), Georgia State (+57, 325), Winthrop (+58, 318), Idaho (+59, 325), Kentucky (+62, 324), Old Dominion (+64, 329), Murray State (+66, 324) and Upstate (+69, 328).

"Golf is about confidence and momentum," said Lawton. "This is a great tournament, on a fantastic course with a top-tier field. As a player, you have to feel good over the ball and picture good shots. As our scores rose, we didn't keep a good handle on creating the shots needed to make birdies and pars. This is not a course that you can just hit the ball solid and long. You have to put it in exactly the right place."

Gallman was the low Spartan on the day. He carded a 6-over-par 78 in the first round and stands tied for 27th in the individual standings. Michael Lawrence turned in a 79 in the first round and stands tied for 52nd heading into the completion of the second round of play. Matthew Hopper finished with an 86 in the first round and stands tied for 55th. Brian Horton turned in an 85 in the opening round and stands tied for 65th. Bryan Otis finished with an 89 in the first round and stands tied for 69th.

"Late this afternoon, Josh made three birdies in his last five and Michael birdied his last two before dark," said Lawton. "Matthew played steady golf for his last seven holes with all pars. Hopefully, we can carry that momentum into the morning finish and beginning of the final round."

Clemson's Corbin Mills opened with a 74 and stands at 1-over-par to take the individual lead. He leads the tournament by a stroke over five players at 2-over.