Trojans remain 7th in men's golf regional

By MOC Sports Information
Published in Sports on May 3, 2006 2:14 PM

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CONCORD -- Mount Olive is five strokes out of fourth place and seventh overall among Atlantic Region teams after second-round play in the 2006 NCAA Division II Men's Golf Atlantic/Southeast Super Regional Tuesday at Rocky River Golf Club.

Jonathan Greene is tied for eighth out of 45 golfers with a 73-77--150. Chris Bitzenhofer is tied for 14th with a 77-74--151, while Mikael Moberg tied for 19th with a 79-74--153. Bitzenhofer and Moberg tied for the lowest score of the second round. Bitzenhofer scored his first collegiate eagle on the par-5 third hole.

"On my second shot, I hit the best 3-iron of my life," said Bitzenhofer, who shot 2-under-par on the front nine. Bitzenhofer carded seven pars and two birdies on the front nine.

Mount Olive and the other Atlantic Region teams began play on the 10th hole Tuesday.

Cameron Phillips is 41st with an 84-84--168 and Josh Harward is 44th with an 86-85--171.

Mount Olive carded a team score of 309 for a 72-hole total of 622. Seven strokes separate the fourth through eighth-place teams. Coker remains first among the eight Atlantic Region teams with a 589. Two-time defending national champion USC-Aiken has a 20-shot lead in the Southeast Region with a 585.

Mount Olive was 10-over-par for the round through 15 holes.

"We put ourselves in a position where we could break into the top four," said head coach Chip Spiron. "But we seemed to run out of gas on the final three holes."

Moberg finished strong for the Trojans, shooting a birdie on the final hole and carding a 1-under-par 35 on the back nine.

Five teams from the Atlantic/Southeast Super Regional advance to the national finals: The Atlantic Region team and the Southeast Region team with the lowest three-round score, along with the next three lowest-scoring teams, regardless of region.

The Super Regional concludes with 18 holes Wednesday.

Spiron hopes his players can play the final round as they played during the regular season.

"We shot well as a team during the regular season and that's what got us into the regionals," said Spiron. "Hopefully, we can finish strong tomorrow and end the regionals on a positive note."