With three players bettering par in Saturday afternoon’s
second round, host Penn State grabbed a one-shot lead heading into Sunday’s
final round in the Rutherford Intercollegiate at the Penn State Blue Course.
Senior JD Hughes, a former Carlisle standout, and juniors
Alec Bard of New Hartford, N.Y. and Ryan Davis of Berkeley Heights, N.J. all
broke par over the 7,197-yard, par 71 Blue Course layout to the lead the
defending champion Nittany Lions to a sparkling 6-under 278 Saturday afternoon. Combined with the opening round of 3-over 287 they put together in Saturday
morning, it left the Nittany Lions, No. 72 in the latest Golfstat rankings, with a 3-under 565 total.
Eastern Michigan had the low round in the morning with a
solid 1-under 283 before matching that total in the afternoon for a 2-under 566
total that left it a shot behind Penn State in second place.
It was another six shots back to Connecticut in third place
at 4-over 572 after the Huskies added a 2-under 282 to their opening round of
6-over 290. West Virginia, at No. 47 the highest-rated team in the field, was
seven shots behind Connecticut in fourth place at 11-over 579. The Mountaineers
added a 4-over 289 to their opening-round 290.
Penn State’s Big Ten rival Rutgers was a shot behind West
Virginia, out of the Big 12, in fifth place in the 13-team field 12-over 580.
Hughes, winner of the Pennsylvania Amateur in 2017 at White Manor Country Club, had struggled in the morning with a 5-over 76, but
bounced back in the afternoon with a 3-under 68 that left him in the group tied
for 14th at 2-over 144. Bard fired a 2-under 69 in the afternoon
after opening with a 2-over 73 as he landed with the group tied for 10th
at even-par 142.
Davis, whose 1-under 70 matched Penn State’s low score in
the morning, added another 1-under 70 in the afternoon and is part of a
five-way tie for third in the individual standings at 2-under 140.
Charles Huntzinger, a senior from Duluth, Ga., also opened
with a 1-under 70 before matching par in the afternoon with a 71 that was Penn
State’s fourth counter. That left Huntzinger in a tie for eighth with a 1-under
141 total.
Huntzinger has been a fixture in the Penn State starting
lineup since he arrived in Happy Valley in the fall of 2015. You have to figure
he wants to make his final Rutherford Intercollegiate start a memorable one.
Rounding out the Penn State lineup was senior Ryan Dornes,
the 2014 PIAA Class AAA runnerup as a senior at Manheim Township. Dornes’
opening round of 3-over 74 was a counter and he added a 4-over 75 in the
afternoon that left him in the group tied for41st at 7-over 149.
The best Penn State score of the day belonged to a player
not in the starting lineup as sophomore Louis Olsakovsky, an Upper St. Clair
product who was competing as an individual, fired a career-best 4-under 67 in Saturday
afternoon’s second round that left him alone in second place in the individual
standings at 3-under 139.
Olsakovsky had opened with a 1-over 72 and his sparkling
second round left him a shot behind the individual leader, Rutgers’ Christopher
Gotterup, a sophomore from Little Silver, N.J.
Ryan Lee, a freshman from Norwood, N.J. also competing as
individual and making his collegiate debut, posted a solid 1-under 70 in
Saturday afternoon’s second round after opening with a 76 to join the group
tied for 26th at 4-over 146.
Sophomore Lukas Clark, a Council Rock South product
competing as an individual, landed in the group tied for 41st at 149
after adding a 78 to a solid opening round of even-par 71. James McHugh, a
sophomore from Rye, N.Y. competing as an individual, added a 4-over 75 to his
opening-round 76 to join the group tied for 50th at 151.
Freshman Hunter Bruce, who finished tied for second in the
2017 PIAA Class AAA Championship as a senior at Peters Township, competed as an
individual and, like Lee, was making his collegiate debut. Bruce opened with a
solid 1-over 72 before falling back Saturday afternoon with a 78 and ended up
in the group tied for 68th at 156.
Rutgers’ Gotterup matched Olsakovsky’s 4-under 67 in
Saturday afternoon’s second round after he had matched par in the opening round
as he grabbed the individual lead at 4-under 138.
Joining Penn State’s Davis in the group tied for third at
2-under 140 were two Eastern Michigan players, Beau Breault, a senior from
Hartland, Mich., and Ty Celone, a sophomore from Canada, Connecticut’s Drake
Hull, a redshirt junior from Rutland, Vt., and William & Mary senior David
Hicks, who starred scholastically at Middle Township at the Jersey Shore.
Breault and Celone each opened with a 2-under 69 before
matching par in Saturday afternoon’s second round with matching 71s. Hull, like
Penn State’s Davis, had a pair of 1-under 70s to land at 140.
Hicks, who earned a trip to the 2017 U.S. Amateur in Los
Angeles in a Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered qualifier at
Stonewall’s twin Tom Doak gems, the Old Course and the North Course, matched
par in the opening round with a 71 before firing a 2-under 69 in Saturday
afternoon’s second round.
Cougar Collins, a senior from Canada, gave Eastern Michigan
a third player among the top eight as he joined Penn State’s Huntzinger in a
tie for eighth at 1-under 141. Collins added a 1-under 70 in Saturday
afternoon’s second round to his opening-round 71.
Another local name that popped up in the field was that of
Cornell freshman Noah Schwartz, who starred scholastically at Penn Charter.
Schwartz added a 79 to his opening-round 77 to land among the group tied for 68th
at 156.
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