Schwab helps Vanderbilt stay on top at NCAA Championship

   With Matthias Schwab, a junior from Austria, leading the way, Vanderbilt, No. 8 in the latest Golfstat rankings, maintained its hold on the top spot in the team standings at the NCAA men’s Division I Championship at the Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore.

   Schwab carded a 3-under 67 over the 7,014-yard, par-70 Eugene Country Club layout and sits in second in the individual standings at 4-under 206. Schwab helped the Commodores post a 2-over 282 for a 54-hole total of 5-over 845.

   Hard-charging Texas, ranked second, had the day’s best round, a 3-under 277, to move into second place in the team standings at 7-over 847, two shots behind Vanderbilt. The Longhorns were led by Beau Hossler, a senior from Mission Viejo, Calif. and a member of 2015 U.S. Walker Cup team who is alone in third place at 3-under 207 following a 3-under 67.

   The individual lead, though, belongs to host team Oregon’s Aaron Wise, a sophomore from Lake Elsinore, Calif. Wise fired a 6-under 64 and stands at 6-under 204, two shots clear of Vanderbilt’s Schwab.

   In addition to Schwab, Vanderbilt has Theo Humphrey, a sophomore from Geenwich, Conn., in a tie for 20^th at 3-over 213 following a 73, Will Gordon, a freshman from Davidson, N.C., in a tie for 36^th at 215 following a 73, Patrick Martin, a freshman from Birmingham, Ala., in a tie for 50^th at 216 following a 72, and Carson Jacobs, a senior from Hendersonville, Tenn., in a tie for 96^th at 221 following the Commodores’ second-best round of the day, a 2-under 70.

   Southern California, ranked third, is third in the team standings, three shots back of Texas at 10-over 850 following a 5-over 845, No. 12 LSU, the defending national champion, is fourth at 11-over 851 following a 3-over 283, No. 20 Oregon, behind Wise, is fifth at 12-over 852 following a 4-over 284, No. 21 Arkansas is sixth at 15-over 855 following a 9-over 289, No. 7 Arizona State is seventh at 17-over 857 following a 6-over 286 and No. 11 California is eighth at 18-over 858 following a 7-over 287.

   Two strong teams, No. 5 Oklahoma State and No. 4 Illinois, are lurking in a tie for ninth at 19-over 859. Oklahoma State carded a 5-over 285 and the Big Ten champion Fighting Illini posted a 9-over 289.

   Five teams ended up in a tie for 14^th at 867 and a tiebreaker determined the final two teams to advance to Monday’s final round of stroke play. Louisville, ranked 50^th, and Oklahoma, ranked 18^th, are in while No. 44 TCU, No. 10 Clemson and No. 6 Georgia failed to advance. The tiebreaker was the cumulative total of the teams’ non-counting rounds in the first three rounds.

   Stanford, ranked No. 1, was a casualty of the cutdown to 15 as the Cardinal never got it going in Eugene, finishing 28^th in the 30-team field at 884.

   Only eight teams will survive after Monday’s final round of stroke play and advance to match play, which begins Tuesday.

   An individual national champion will be determined Monday and Wise has a talented group chasing him. In addition to Vanderbilt’s Schwab in second and Texas’ Bossler in third, Arizona State’s Jon Rahm, a senior from Spain who is the Pac-12 champion, heads a group of four players tied for fourth at 2-under 208. Rahm carded a 1-under 69.

   Rahm is joined at figure by Alabama’s Robby Shelton, a senior from Wilmer, Ala. who posted a 2-over 72, TCU’s Paul Barjon, a senior from New Caledonia, who carded a 1-under 69, and Southern Cal’s Rico Hoey, a junior from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. who had a 1-under 69.

   Georgia’s Lee McCoy, a senior from Clarksville, S.C., is alone in eighth place at 1-under 209 after carding a second straight even-par 70.

   Four more players are tied for ninth at even-par 210, including California’s K.K. Limbhasut, a sophomore from Loma Linda, Calif. who carded a 2-over 72, Florida’s Gordon Neale, a freshman from Dove Canyon, Calif. who had a 3-over 73, Southern Cal’s Justin Suh, a freshman from San Jose, Calif. who had a 75 after holding the 36-hole lead, and San Diego State’s Nahum Mendoza III, a junior from San Diego who had a 74.

   Wake Forest’s Kyle Sterbinsky, of Yardley and a Peddie School product, saw his outstanding freshman season come to an end as he carded a 75 to finish in a tie for 67^th at 8-over 218. The Demon Deacons finished tied for 23^rd at 871.