TIGER RAG NEWS SERVICES
Senior Matty Dodd-Berry led the LSU golf team with an even par 72 Saturday as the No. 7-seed Tigers shaved 10 shots from their opening round on Friday in the NCAA Championships at the OMNI La Costa Spa and Resort course in Carlsbad, California.
The Tigers fired a 5-over par round of 293 and are at 20-over par with a 596 through 36 holes. LSU is expected to be at least 10-15 shots off the score needed to make the top 15 cut after Sunday’s third round and are tied for 28th. The cutoff Saturday afternoon was 5-over par as the teams that played early on Friday were playing later Saturday with several teams beginning their day as LSU was finishing.
“The guys, I thought played very hard today, really tried to get after it,” said LSU coach Jake Amos, who has the Tigers in the NCAA Championships in just his second year as coach. “When you struggle the day before, and you have a quick turnaround, it’s really tough mentally to start talking good about your game and feeling good about your game. And we had a little bit of a hangover, obviously, from Friday. It’s really small details, but I just told the guys they fought really hard. They didn’t have it. They are just not quite with it. But they were really professional and they did me proud today.”
Dodd-Berry, who is from Wirral, England, is wrapping up his college career that started under Amos at East Tennessee State. He had three front-nine birdies in his even par round and posted a 2-under 34 on the first nine holes.
“He played really nice,” Amos said. “He, like the rest of the guys, is just not getting a lot out of his game right now. He probably played a little bit better than even. For a senior, he’s got a lot of experience. He played really nice. I think he’ll have another good day on Sunday.”
The layout for round two equaled 7,393 yards, some 130 yards less than Friday’s opening round over the par 72 layout.
LSU also had a 1-over 73 from Jay Mendell with two birdies, including on the par 5 18th hole, while Arni Sveinsson and Noah McWilliams each shot 2-over 74. McWilliams had three birdies. Dan Hayes posted a 3-over 75.
The Tigers will have a late afternoon tee time Sunday.
“I was like, if you feel good, send it, and gave a great day, and see what we can shoot,” Amos said. “But don’t chase anything. Just be a real pro and see how many teams we can beat and see where it gets us. I don’t want them to try and shoot a crazy number and end up shooting a crazy high number. That doesn’t do anyone any good.”
As of 4 p.m. Saturday central time, Auburn was through 36 holes at 20-under par 556 after a 16-under second round. Texas and Vanderbilt were finished 36 holes at 12-under 564, tied with UCLA at 12-under par. UCLA was the first-round leader at 8-under.
Filip Jakubcik of Arizona is the individual leader after a second round 66 to stand at 10-under par 204 through 36 holes.
Live scoring Sunday will be available at Scoreboard.clipped.com, and Babygrande will be streaming on GolfChannel.com at 2:30 p.m. central time.
LSU Scores
— Matty Dodd-Berry — 75-72 — 147 +3
— Jay Mendell — 75-73 — 148 +4
— Dan Hayes — 76-75 — 151 +7
— Arni Sveinsson — 77–74 — 151 +7
— Noah McWilliams — 78-74 — 152 +8
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