Men's Golf | March 25
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - Led by freshman
Jordan Less, NIU closed the second day of the FAU Slomin Autism Invitational five strokes of sixth place and just 12 from third on Saturday. Less shot 73 in the second round to move up to 26th in the field after entering in 48th place.
As the windy conditions prevailed at PGA National, Less carded three birdies and 11 pars. He shot even par on his final nine holes of play. His round was one of only 22 at or below 73 with a mere three players shooting under par.
"Jordan had a great bounce back round and was the highlight for us today," said Director of Golf
Tom Porten. "He is learning to play in the wind and did a great job of hitting 70 percent of his fairways. As a result, he hit the green in regulation 14 times."
As a team, Porten sees room for improvement heading into the final round.
"We made some poor decisions with club selection and did not execute on the par five, 18," he added. "Matt had a really tough day all around and Thomas played well until his last hole No. 10. We need to be smarter tomorrow if we want to move into the top half of the field."
Thomas DeMarco, the Huskies leader through 36 holes, is tied for 22nd at +6. He was +1 on the day entering his final hole, however, the sophomore a seven to close the day +4. Both Less and
Charlie Cameron finished one stroke shy of DeMarco and both are tied for 26th in the standings.
NIU will close the tournament tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. Central time.
TEAM STANDINGS: 1. UCF - 289-291=580 (+4); 2. Jacksonville State - 290-300=590 (+14); 3. Georgetown - 291-301=592 (+16); 4. Florida Gulf Coast - 298-295=593 (+17); 5. UConn - 298-297=595 (+19); 6. DePaul - 304-295=599 (+23); 7. Southern Miss - 296-306=602 (+26); 8. NIU - 298-306=604 (+28); 9. Florida Atlantic - 304-301=605 (+29); 10. Stetson - 305-304=609 (+33); 11. Murray State - 316-296=612 (+36); 12. Morehead State - 302-317=619 (+43); 13. Hartford - 307-316=623 (+47)
TOP-10 INDIVIDUALS: 1. Manuel Elvira (UCF) - 68-72=140 (-4); t2. Andrew Potter (FGCU) - 69-72=141 (-3); 3. Daniel Pico (JSU) - 69-72=141 (-3); 4. Austin Knight (Murray) - 72-71=143 (-1); 5. Eduardo Blechtein (GU) - 71-73=144 (E); t6. Bobby Bai (UCF) - 74-71=145 (+1); t6. Freddy Thomas (DePaul) - 72-73=145 (+1); t9. Cole Berman (GU) - 74-73=147 (+3); t9. Juuso Kahlos (UCF) - 72-75=147 (+3); t9. Tim Umphrey* (UConn) - 74-73=147
NIU INDIVIDUALS: t22.
Thomas DeMarco - 74-76=150 (+6); t26.
Jordan Less - 78-73=151 (+7); t26.
Charlie Cameron - 73-78=151 (+7); t56.
Salvador Rocha - 79-79=158 (+14); t12.
Matt Cholod - 73-85=158 (+14)
