Angels Camp, Calif. - Head coach
Tim Swanson could sense that sophomore
Daniel Sayler was playing with a little more confidence during Sunday's practice round at the Greenhorn Creek Golf Resort and so far through two rounds of the Big Sky Championship that intuition was correct.
For the second straight day, Sayler topped the UND lineup with a 78 (+6) and has a 36-hole total to 157 (+13) to sit in a tie for 27th. The left-hander shot 39 on both sides of the par-72 layout and opened his day with one of his two birdies on hole No. 1.
"It comes down to managing the golf course and Daniel has done a better job of that this week," Swanson said. "He is playing with a lot more confidence and I could tell he was pretty loose on Sunday, which was good to see.
Sayler, who hit 15 of 18 greens, was not the only UND golfer that got around the course in better fashion during the second round. Three of his teammates shaved strokes off their round-one scores. Junior
Jacob Dehne improved the most, carding an 81 (+9) after an opening-round 88, while classmate
Brady Ohman took four strokes off his score and finished with a 79 (+7).
UND finished with a 318 as a team, which was a six-stroke improvement from day one, but dropped to eighth place after Binghamton moved into seventh thanks to a second-round total of 299 (+11). That was 26 strokes better than the team's opening round score of 325 (+37)
"We did a better job of hitting greens and avoiding those big numbers we saw on our cards yesterday," Swanson added. "We still need to putt a little better and our score could have been even lower."
Junior co-captain
Aaron Pulanco was the only golfer to shoot a higher scorer, but that was only by one stroke as he posted an 80 (+8) in round two.
Idaho took control of the team race with a second-round score of 285 (-3) and has a 12-stroke lead on Sacramento State. The Vandals are at 580, while the Hornets are at 592 and Southern Utah rounds out the top three at 596.
Idaho's Jared du Toit fired the low-round of the tournament with a 69 (-3) on Tuesday and leads the race for medalist honors by two strokes with a 36-hole total of 142 (-2). Idaho teammate Aaron Cockerill and Southern Utah's Nic Booth (144; E) share second.
UND will wrap up its first season in the Big Sky on Wednesday with third round play.
Big Sky Championship Team Standings
| 1. |
Idaho |
295-285 = 580 (+4) |
| 2. |
Sacramento State |
297-295 = 592 (+16) |
| 3. |
Southern Utah |
305-291 = 596 (+20) |
| 4. |
Weber State |
302-297 = 599 (+23) |
| 5. |
Hartford |
306-302 = 608 (+32) |
| 6. |
Northern Colorado |
312-306 = 618 (+42) |
| 7. |
Binghamton |
325-299 = 624 (+48) |
| 8. |
North Dakota |
324-318 = 642 (+66) |
UND Individuals
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