Coming off of its first win of the 2011 campaign last week at the Jerry Pate Intercollegiate, the men’s golf team is poised to make another finish atop the leaderboards this week in its third tournament of the season.
The Longhorns, ranked No. 3 in the latest GolfWeek/Nike poll, began a two-day, 54-hole tournament at the Jack Nicklaus Invitational in Dublin, Ohio with a strong performance, finishing the day in second place of the 12-team field with a score of 575 (-2) and just one shot behind leader Ohio State (574, -1).
Four of the five golfers that Texas sent to the tournament were on last week’s squad that took first place in Birmingham, Ala., with senior Adam Wennerstrom, who shot a 159 (+15) for the day, being the only new addition. Senior Dylan Frittelli, who has finished in second place in each of his first two tournaments in 2011 and was named the Big 12 Golfer of the Month for September, provided his slowest start to an event so far, shooting a 146 (+2) in the opening round. In addition to the seniors, junior Julio Vegas, sophomore Toni Hakula and freshman Jordan Spieth also made the lineup for the Longhorns for this tournament. Hakula shot a 148 (+4) through day one, and Vegas tied for sixth among individual golfers by recording a score of 142 (-2).
Spieth has been major reason for the Longhorn’s assent to the top of the leaderboard at the Jack Nicklaus Invitational, though, as he recorded the second best score over day one by shooting a 139 (-5). This included a second round in which he shot a 66, good for 6-under-par, and converted four consecutive birdies.
Overall, the Longhorns recorded the best score of anyone in the second round of Day 1’s action, shooting a 12-under-par score of 276 that helped them move into second place entering the final day.
Texas will tee off with the first group on Tuesday morning at 8:20, and they will look to add on their strong second round performance on Day 1 and compete for their second consecutive tournament victory.
Printed on October 11, 2011 as: Speith eight birdie-round puts Horns within one of tourney lead
