MIAMI – With sophomore Calahan Keever equaling the fifth-best 36-hole total in school history, the Anderson University men's golf team is in fifth place following the first two rounds Monday at the Miami Intercollegiate.
"I was really proud of the effort," said Anderson Associate Head Coach Denton Moore. "The guys really played well overall. We had an excellent practice round yesterday. Good communication was there all around, and I thought we had a great game plan to take care of this course today. Unfortunately, we made to many silly mistakes, and a couple big numbers. I'm just really disappointed because we let two rounds just get away from us. We were there, and playing so well both rounds. We had too many 3-putts, and a couple holes got away from us. But we are still in there, with a chance to make a run tomorrow. We have to get hot early, and then keep the pedal down."
The two-day, 54-hole event is being hosted by Southern Golf and Nova Southeastern at Trump National Doral on a par-70, 6260- yard layout.
Nationally 46th-ranked Tampa leads the seven-team field by six strokes over both No. 21 Nova Southeastern and 23rd-ranked Lynn. Palm Beach Atlantic is in fourth place, with Anderson in the fifth slot. Nova Southeastern (B) is sixth, with Wilmington (DE) in seventh place.
Tampa's Aadam Syed leads the chase for individual medalist honors, by one shot over Keever, Nova Southeastern's Javier Calles, Lynn's Eloy Vogil and Tampa's George Eunank, Jr.
Keever's two-round 138 was just one shot off his earlier 36-hole 137 from last week's Donald Ross Intercollegiate. Freshman Simon Wright is in a three-way tie for 11th place after firing a first-round 1-under-par 69 and following up with a 73. Sophomore Daniel Coker carded a two-round, 8-over-par 148 and shares 28th place, while junior Caleb Henson eagled the par-5 18th hole during the first round and finished with a 12-over-par 152 to claim a share of 34th place. Junior Reece Coleman rounded out the Trojan contingent in 36th place.
"Calahan (Keever) was again very solid today," added Moore. "He really executed well from start to finish. I'm really proud of the way he played. Simon (Wright) continues to play well in this lineup as a freshman. The 69-73 today from him was big, and we needed it. Simon played 34 really great holes. He had two get away from him around the greens. Other than that, just rock solid. We got solid rounds from Daniel (Coker) and Caleb (Henson) in the second round, and a solid round from Reece (Coleman) in the first round. We have to find a way tomorrow to get four really good rounds in there, and we can make a move. Proud of them though, the guys are growing up one round at a time."
The final round is slated to get underway Tuesday morning.
NOTABLES
• Keever's two-round 138 matched the fifth-best 36-hole total in school history.
• The Trojans' second-round 287 tied for the 16th-lowest round in program history
• Henson eagled the par-5 18th hole during the first round.
• Keever's first-round and second-round 1-under 69s matched his second-best round of the season.
• Wright's first-round 1-under 69 marked his lowest round of the season.
• The pair of 69s marked the team's third-lowest round of the year.
• Coker's second-round 72 marked his second-best round of the season.
5 Anderson 288 287 575
T2 Calahan Keever 69 69 138
T11 Simon Wright 69 73 142
T28 Daniel Coker 76 72 148
34 Caleb Henson 79 73 152
36 Reece Coleman 74 80 154
TEAMS
1 Tampa 284 279 563 +3
T2 Nova SE 286 283 569 +9
T2 Lynn 280 289 569 +9
4 Palm Beach Atl. 287 284 571 +11
5 Anderson 288 287 575 +15
6 Nova SE (B) 309 278 587 +27
7 Wilmington (DE) 307 303 610 +50
