Georgia State was midway through its third round of the NCAA Championship when play was suspended for the day because of weather. It marked the sixth weather delay of the championship. The Panthers will return to the course on Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. ET to finish the round.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. – Georgia State junior Davin White shot a second round 3-under 67 on Sunday afternoon and now stands in a tie for third at the NCAA Men's Golf Championship at Prairie Dunes Golf Club. The Panthers are tied for 21st entering the final round following a second round 10-over, 290.
After teeing off early Sunday morning, the field experience another weather delay that caused a change to the format once again. Georgia State will now be a part of a Sunday evening shotgun with teams ranked No. 16-30 in an attempt to finish 54 holes. The top 15 teams will tee off late Monday morning.
White nearly held the lead entering the final round. The junior made five birdies and was 5-under on his round (6-under overall) entering his last hole, but made an unfortunate double bogey from a tough lie in the rough greenside.
He enters the final round at 4-under following an opening round 1-under 69 and just two shots behind Stanford's Cameron Wilson, ranked No. 2 in the nation, and just one stroke behind Stanford's Patrick Rodgers, ranked No. 1 in the nation. White entered the week ranked No. 153 in the country.
White will be looking for a school-best finish at the NCAA Championship. Joel Sjoholm finished tied for 13th in 2008 at The Kampen Course in West Lafayette, Ind.
“Davin played a great round of golf today,” head coach Joe Inman said following the round. “He is striking the ball great which is giving him some easy putts. His game fits the wind well and this afternoon it picked up a little, but it really did not affect him.
“As I told the team, we are still playing with house money. Let's go out and play one more great round and see where the chips fall. We have shown that we can play with some of the best teams in the country this week and I know that our team will look to finish strong.”
Georgia State stands at 15-over following an opening round 5-over, 285, which took place between Friday and Saturday. The field has now experienced four weather delays totaling more than nine hours.
Senior Tyler Gruca, coming off a third place finish at the NCAA San Antonio Regional, stands in a tie for 50th at 2-over following a second round 73. Gruca made a pair of birdies during his round on Sunday.
Sophomore J.J. Grey rebounded from a tough first round to shoot 72 on Sunday and stands at 8-over and tied for 116th. His second round included three birdies.
Junior Damon Stephenson shot a second round 78 and is now tied for 152nd at 17-over.
Freshman Nathan Mallonee is tied with Stephenson after a second round 86. Mallonee had a solid round going before a tough final six holes saw him go 13-over during that stretch.
No. 3 Stanford holds a four stroke lead entering the final round. The Cardinal are 12-under following a second round 13-under, 267. No. 1 Alabama is second at 8-under, followed by No. 2 Oklahoma State in third at 4-under. No. 16 LSU is fourth at 3-under with No. 4 Georgia Tech in fifth at 1-under. Those five teams of the field of 30 are the only schools under par.
Georgia State is 12 strokes back of eight place entering the final round. The top eight teams will advance to match play to determine the national champion. The Panthers best finish as a team at the NCAA Championship is 11th which game at The Homestead in 2004.
Stanford's Cameron Wilson leads at 6-under, with his teammate Patrick Rodgers in second at 5-under. White is tied for third with Oklahoma State's Talor Gooch, Virginia's Denny McCarthy, Oklahoma's Charlie Saxon and Georgia Tech's Ollie Schniederjans. Three of those four golfers are ranked in the top 20 in the country.
In the third round, Georgia State will be paired with Iowa State and Arkansas. The teams went off in a shotgun start at 5:40 p.m. ET.
