UAB Men's Golf Moves Up at NCAA's

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The UAB men's golf team moved up five spots to 22nd behind junior All-American Graeme McDowell's four-under-par 67 in today's second round play of the NCAA Championships held at The Ohio State University's Scarlet Course. The Blazers are now at 11-over-par with a score of 579.

McDowell is now four under for the tournament (138) and tied for seventh, as he shot even par in yesterday's first round. He is three strokes behind the University of Washington's Brock Mackenzie, who is currently leading the tournament with a seven-under-par score of 135.

Day two of competition already was delayed about 90 minutes while 15 teams completed play early Thursday, finishing round one, which was suspended Wednesday by heavy rain. Teams were sent to shelters on the course at 4:39 p.m. EDT today when thunder and rain halted play. Play resumed at 5:25 p.m. and finished at 9:05 p.m.

"Considering the fact that we didn't start until late in the day, I was pleased with our performance," said UAB Head Coach Alan Kaufman. "I am particularly happy for Graeme as he got back in the individual race. He's only three shots out of the lead and certainly has a legitimate chance. If the team will continue to step up, I believe we will achieve our goal of finishing in the top 15."

Clemson and Georgia Tech are leading the tournament, posting a five-under-par score of 563. Toledo is third with a 564, and North Carolina and TCU are tied for fourth (566) to round out the top five.

Third round play begins tomorrow.

UAB Scores

22 UAB 293 286 579

T7 Graeme McDowell 71 67 138

T43 Ryan Thomas 69 74 143

T75 Drew Jones 72 73 145

149 Craig Gordon 81 72 153

156 Blake Mozley 82 82 164