(Portions of this story courtesy of Centre College & Oglethorpe University)
HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla. - Host institution Oglethorpe University expanded their lead to 14 strokes on day two of the 2012 NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championships being held at the Mission Inn Resorts in Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida. Complete Leaderboard
The Stormy Petrels posted the third-best team score of the day (292, +4) and the best number among the squads competing on the demanding par-72 El Campeon Course. The Methodist University Monarchs sit alone in second place with a tournament total of +15 while the University of Texas at Tyler and Guilford College share third place at 19-over par for the Championship. A group of five teams lurk together just one shot back at 20-over to set up what should be a frenetic final two days on the leader board.
The round of the day belonged to Transylvania University, who bounced back from 308 on El Campeon yesterday to score an even par round of 288 on the Las Colinas Course. Huntingdon College was just one stroke off the pace set by the Pioneers on Colinas with a team-total of 289 that was spearheaded by the Hawks' Thomas Mitchell posting the low round of the tournament with a 67. Aside from Oglethorpe's 292, St. John Fisher College (294, +6) and Illinois Wesleyan University (297, +9) enjoyed the only sub-300 rounds on the El Campeon Course to position themselves nicely for the final two rounds.
Along with Micthell's 67, there were two other individual scores in the 60's on Wednesday turned in by Wittenburg University's David Wetterich (69, -3) and the University of La Verne's Derek Zachman (69, -3), and both came from the Los Colinas Course. Oglethorpe's freshman Anthony Maccaglia still resides atop the individual leader board after carding a 71 today on El Campeon. At 5-under for the Championship, Maccaglia is three strokes clear of three players in a tie for second place: Oglethorpe's Hayden Jones, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps' Brad Shigezawa and Nebraska Wesleyan's Drew Taylor.
Centre College's Grant Hinton, playing as an individual, improved upon his opening round at the NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championship, but despite shooting a round of 74, he couldn't overcome the 81 he shot yesterday and ended up barely missing the cut.
The senior from Elizabethtown, Ky. got off to a much better start on Wednesday, two over par through the opening nine holes compared to seven over through nine holes yesterday. Hinton made two bogeys on the back nine, but countered them with two birdies to shoot even par on the final nine holes.
Tomorrow's third round begins at 8 a.m. and will be played exclusively on the El Campeon Course amongst the 15 squads who survived the cut.
