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Playa del Carmen, Mexico – Despite trimming four strokes off its opening round score, Western Carolina men’s golf slipped two spots into sixth after firing a second-round score of 300 on Monday at the spring-opening Compadres Collegiate, at the par-72, 6,701-yard Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club.
Redshirt sophomore Tyler Jones slid three spots into fifth overall with a two-day total of 146, firing a 3-over par 75 in Monday’s second round. Junior Jace Butcher improved by a stroke, climbing into a tie for sixth at 3-over par 147, leading the Catamounts with a second-round score of 1-over par 73.
Jones opened his second round with three-straight birdies to start at 3-under par before back-to-back bogeys and a disastrous quadruple bogey on the par-4, 424-yard 10th left him at 3-over par six holes into the day. Two additional bogeys left him at 5-over par with five holes remaining in the round. The Jacksonville, N.C., product closed the day with a pair of birdies over his final five holes to shoot 3-over, 75, and give him 10 birdies over the first 36 holes.
Butcher countered a pair of bogeys with two birdies over his opening 16 holes in his second round, heading to the par-4, 377-yard fourth at even-par. He then charted his third birdie of the day to move to 1-under, poised to climb further up the leaderboard. But a double-bogey on his 36th hole of the tournament left him at 1-over for the day and 3-over for the tournament in a tie for sixth.
WCU’s three remaining members of the scoring five each improved on their second-round score. Both senior Ivan Ninkovic and redshirt senior Josh Lendach were three strokes better in the second round, shooting 4-over par 76 and 5-over par 77, respectively. Junior Andrew Korytoski knocked eight strokes off his second-round score with a 4-over par 76. Ninkovic and Lendach both advanced four spots into a tie for 26th and 33rd, while Korytoski was WCU’s biggest gainer in the lineup, climbing nine spots into a tie for 42nd.
Playing unattached as an individual, junior Dalton Payne gained nine spots on Monday, improving by eight strokes in the second round with a two-day score of 12-over par 156. Payne carded three birdies and an eagle on the 485-yard, par-5 14th. Classmate Michael Bevins moved up eight spots, knocking five strokes off his opening-round score with a 4-over par 76, into a tie for 33rd with a pair of birdies, while freshman Connor Williams is 53rd at 166.
All told, six of WCU’s eight golfers in Mexico improved on their second-round scores on Monday.
Tournament host Texas-Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) posted a 3-over-par second-round score to move to the top of the team leaderboard through 36 holes. The Vaqueros (590) carry a three-stroke edge into Tuesday’s final round over second-place North Texas (593). First-round leader Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) slipped to third overall with a two-day total of 600, with Drake (601) and Louisiana-Monroe (602) rounding out the top five.
WCU (604) is just two strokes back of the top five in sixth, followed by Northern Colorado (612), and both Bellarmine (630) and Morehead State (630) are tied for eighth in the nine-team field.
Alex Huang of North Texas moved two spots to the top of the leaderboard, carrying a four-stroke lead into Tuesday’s last 18 holes over a three-way tie between UTSA’s Joshua Hong (145), Sam Johnson of Drake (145), and Caden Lester of ULM (145). Johnson climbed 14 spots on Monday, while Lester leapt 22 positions to the top of the leaderboard.
Paired with golfers from Drake and ULM, the Catamount scoring five open Tuesday’s final round between holes No. 6 and No. 8, with the 8:30 a.m. shotgun start. Live scoring is available online through the Scoreboard app, powered by Clippd.
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6 – Western Carolina – 304 – 300 = 604 (+28)
5 – Tyler Jones – 71-75 = 146 (+2)
T6 – Jace Butcher – 74-73 = 147 (+3)
T26 – Ivan Ninkovic – 79-76 = 155 (+11)
T33 – Josh Lendach – 80-77 = 157 (+13)
T42 – Andrew Korytoski – 84-76 = 160 (+16)
T30 – Dalton Payne (ind.) – 82-74 = 156 (+12)
T33 – Michael Bevins (ind.) – 81-76 = 157 (+13)
53 – Connor Wiliams (ind.) – 81-85 = 166 (+22)