Georgia State's Joel Sjoholm completed first day action tied for third at the GolfWeek/Ping Preview as the 25th-ranked Panthers sit 13th as a team in West Lafayette, Ind.
After two rounds, Sjoholm is at two-under par after posting an even-par 72 first round and a two-under 70 in the second round and sits two strokes off the overall lead.
"Once again, Joel [Sjoholm] has played himself into contention for an individual championship with a tremendous day," said Georgia State head coach Matt Clark. "He and Tom [Sherreard] were under par all day on difficult course against the nation's best compeitiom and I can't say enough about how well they are playing."
The Panthers finished the first 36 holes with a team score of 599 on the par-72, 7,467-yard Birch Boilermaker Golf Complex Kampen Course.
"As a team we know what we need to work on to lift our scores and our short game is one of the priorities," added Clark. "I'm encouraged by how were are playing, because a 36-hole day is a long day and this is the first time we've done that this season. We're playing against the best talent in country for the second consecutive week and we aren't that far off as a team, but we know we have work to do and we're going to go out and try to improve in our final round."
Sjoholm, last year's Colonial Athletic Association Golfer of the Year and Georgia State Male Athlete of the Year, recorded one birdie and a bogey in a consistent first round.
In his second round, which began with a birdie on the par-four 15th, the native of Sweden played up and down. He eagled the par-five fourth hole and then birdied seven to move to four-under par. But he bogeyed nine, birdied ten, bogeyed 11 and scored a double bogey on the par-four 12th to fall to one-under par. However, Sjoholm should his ability to recover and posted a birdie on his final hole to finish at two-under par.
Last week, Sjoholm finished tied for third in the prestigious Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic in Rocky Face, Ga.
Sophomore Tom Sherreard also played well for the Panthers in the first day and posted rounds of three-over par and one-under par to finish the two-round day at two-over par and tied for 12th overall.
The Preview allows the nation's top collegiate golf teams to play the NCAA Championship course in the fall season.
Georgia State will resume play tomorrow in the final round as the team tees off at 8:30 a.m. on the 10th hole.
Check GeorgiaStateSports.com for updates follow final round action and live scoring can be found at GolfStat.com.
Current Georgia State Scores
Georgia State University: +23, 599, 13th
Joel Sjoholm: -2, 142, T-3rd
Tom Sherreard: +2, 146, T-12
Maurice Jordan: +10, 154, T-56
Brent Paul: +14, 158, T-67
Tim Freund: +19, 163, 73
