No. 1 Auburn Golf Enters Final Round Of U.S. Collegiate Tied For Third

[augolf1716 21,170]

ALPHARETTA, Ga. - The No. 1 Auburn men's golf team (288-570) shot even par in Monday's second round of the United States Collegiate Championship to enter Tuesday's final round tied for third at The Golf Club of Georgia in Alpharetta, Ga.

The Tigers trail only No. 5 Georgia Tech (282-566) and No. 3 UCLA (281-569) and are tied at 6-under par with No. 13 Washington (282-570) and No. 11 USC (288-570).

"We made the turn at 4-under for the day and 10-under for the tournament," said Auburn head coach Nick Clinard. "We had a few lapses coming down the stretch that cost us a few strokes. We need to be better on the greens and with our irons inside 125 yards.

"We are still in excellent position for tomorrow. It's shaping up to be a real fight to the finish. There are about five teams at the top all within four strokes of each other. It should be a very exciting day of golf."

Unlike other college golf events, the U.S. Collegiate provides a caddie to every player and galleries often follow the players down the fairway as you would see in a Walker Cup or U.S. Amateur atmosphere.

A grandstand and live leaderboards have also been set up above the 18th green.

Junior Dominic Bozzelli (73-140) and true freshmen Michael Johnson (71-140) finished Monday's second round tied for third at 4-under par.

Bozzelli maintained his top-five position after entering the day tied for second after an opening round 67. The Pittsford, N.Y., product continued to shoot daggers on the club's par-3s, now carding a total of five birdies on eight par-3 attempts.

Johnson, who also finished in Sunday's top-five with an opening round 69, got his day started with a trio of birdies on his first three holes. A pair of back-nine bogeys, however, brought the Birmingham, Ala., native home at 1-under par for the day.

Johnson signed with the Tigers as the No. 7 collegiate recruit in the world and has made Auburn's travel squad for all four of the team's fall events.

Auburn's 2011 Walker Cup selection Blayne Barber (70-142) carded the team's low round on the day, coming in at 2-under after a back-and-forth round that included five birdies and three bogeys. The Lake City, Fla., native will enter Tuesday tied for 13th looking for his 11th top-15 finish since transferring to Auburn from Central Florida in 2009.

Senior Will McCurdy (74-148) finished tied for 41st 4-over par followed by junior Jackson Beindorf (75-153) tied for 62nd.

No. 18 Florida State is (292-578) is in sixth at 2-over followed by No. 12 Clemson (286-580), Kent State (288-583), Iowa (291-584), No. 8 Texas A&M (290-590), Wake Forest (298-593), No. 23 Virginia (303-600) and East Tennessee State (304-608).

The Tigers tee off the front nine at 11:30 a.m. EST with Florida State and USC. Auburn's first paring should make the turn at roughly 1:45 p.m. and reach 18 by 4 p.m.

[auclong 1]

Finished tied for 2nd.

[augolf1716 21,170]

We should stay #1