As coach Conner Lash put it, “We’re in a dogfight.”
Starting on the back nine at the El Campeon course in Howey-in-the-Hills. Fla., (about 45 minutes west of Orlando), they played their first 12 holes in a nifty 8-under par. But they went 14-over on holes four through nine, finishing at 6-over 294.
They shot 282 in the first round and are at even par, while PFW is 4-over with 18 holes to go
Youngstown State is 13-over, Cleveland State 19-over and Oakland 20-over.
“We’re all disappointed with how we finished, but it’s a hard stretch of holes, and the wind was up. You have maybe a couple mental mistakes and bad swings, and that’s what you get,” Lash said.
“But at the end of the day, we’ve played 36 holes, and only about six of them were pretty poor. There’s a lot of positives to build on. And we’re in a spot where we can win tomorrow if we just play our game.”
PFW’s Kasey Lilly, who lost to Wright State’s Tyler Goecke in a playoff for the individual title last year, has shot a tourney-best 4-under so far.
The Raiders fill the next three spots on the leaderboard: senior Andrew Flynn is at 2-under with a 69 and 73, while fifth-year player Mikkel Mathiesen (71, 72) and freshman Timmy Hollenbeck (67, 76) are at 1-under.
Wright State has the most individual winners in league history with eight.
Five golfers play each day and four scores count. Sophomore Adam Horn has gone 75-73 and sophomore Shane Ochs 75-76.
“On this course, if you’re not almost perfect, you’re going to make some big numbers,” Lash said.
“But (the players are) still positive and still playing good golf.”
The Raiders have won two of the last four HL tourneys and finished second in the other two.
They have seven total titles, while Cleveland State has the most with 10.
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