Ferris State Moves Up To Tie For 5th Place Following Second Round At D2 National Championships
Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University men's golf team moved up to a share of fifth place overall in the 2017 NCAA Division II National Championships following second round play on Tuesday (May 23) at Reunion Resort in Kissimmee, Fla.
The Bulldogs posted a 289 team score in Tuesday's second round of the national championships and currently holds a 575 team figure following two rounds of action after shooting a first-round 282 mark on Monday. The final 18 holes of the 54-hole stroke play portion of the national tournament take place on Wednesday with the top eight teams at the end of the round advancing to the national quarterfinals in the medal/match play part of the tourney on Thursday.
Ferris State sits behind four Florida-based schools in the standings as Barry (Fla.) holds the day two advantage with a 552 overall total followed by West Florida (556), Florida Tech (561) and Florida Southern (562). FSU is tied with Newberry (S.C.) for fifth place and the two teams are a single stroke in front of seventh place Lynn (576), which moved up nine spots after the second round.
Senior Ben Cook continues to lead Ferris State as he shot a 73 on Tuesday and is currently tied for 12th in the field with a 141 score. He previously shot a 68 in round one.
Cook is followed by Andrew Hammett, who is tied for 23rd overall at 143 with rounds of 72 on Monday followed by a 71 on Tuesday. FSU's Seth Terpstra is tied for 40th with a 145 figure after carding a 75 in the second round on the heels of his first round 70 total.
The Bulldogs' Ryan Bayer shot a 73 on Tuesday, which bettered his first-round 76 score by three strokes, and is tied for 64th with a 149 total. Finally, Jack Weller posted a 72, topping his first-round 78 mark by six strokes, and holds a 150 total for a share of 71st place on the course measuring 7,054 total yards.
The Bulldogs are making their 15th all-time national championships appearance and first berth since 2010 after earning runner-up honors at the 2017 NCAA Midwest/Central Super Regional in Axtell, Neb. The finals are being hosted by the Sunshine State Conference and the Central Florida Sports Commission.
At the National Championships, all 20 advancing teams and eight individuals will complete 54 holes of stroke play with a round per day thru Wednesday. Following 54 holes of stroke play, an individual champion will be declared along with finishers 2-10 based on cumulative total score and any applicable tiebreakers. The top eight teams after 54 holes of play will be placed into a bracket and seeded based on 54-hole scores for the medal/match play portion of the competition to determine the team champion.
FSU is being joined at the national championships by Dominican (NY), St. Thomas Aquinas, Charleston (W.Va.), LeMoyne, Central Missouri, Lindenwood (Mo.), Arkansas Tech, West Florida, Florida Southern, Lynn (Fla.), Florida Tech, Barry (Fla.), Newberry (S.C.), North Alabama, Cal-Baptist, Stanislaus State, Cal-State East Bay, Western Washington and Cal-State Monterey Bay.
The 54-hole stroke play portion of the event runs thru Wednesday with the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the Medal/Match competition for those advancing teams taking place on Thursday. The final round of the team competition takes place on Friday.
Ferris State's current 15-year NCAA Championship appearance streak in men's golf ranks as one of the longest active stretches in the country. FSU recorded a school-record seventh-place finish in its last trip to the national championships in 2010.
Wednesday's action will get underway with a 9 a.m. (ET) shotgun start at Reunion Resort.