ETSU four shots back heading into Wednesday's final round

KAUA’I, Hawaii (Nov. 6, 2012) – The ETSU men’s golf team carded a 3-under-par 285 in the second round of the Warrior Wave Intercollegiate on Tuesday, and the Bucs enter Wednesday’s third and final round four strokes behind tournament leader Baylor at the Makai Golf Club from the St. Regis Princeville Resort.

After finishing at 2-under as a team in the opening round, the Bucs are tied for third with North Carolina State at 5-under-par 571 following the first 36 holes of play. No. 49 Baylor – who ended at 8-under on Tuesday – holds a three shot lead over UC Irvine. The Bears have registered score of 9-under 567 in the first two rounds.

The Bucs were fueled by the strong play of sophomore Scott Gibson (Southerness, Scotland) and freshman Gudmundur Kristjansson (Reykjavik, Iceland) on Tuesday. Kristjansson posted a 2-over 74 in the first round, but bounced back nicely by firing a 2-under-par 70 in round two and is tied for 17th, while Gibson is tied for 10th at 2-under-par 142. Gibson played the first 10 holes at 4-under, but registered back-to-back bogeys on No. 12 and 13, and also recorded a double bogey on the 414-yard, par-4 15th. However, just like he did on Monday, Gibson birdied the 567-yard, par-5 18th to finish the round on a positive note.

Meanwhile, freshman Adrian Meronk (Wroclaw, Poland) entered the day with a share of the lead at 4-under, but the Buccaneer rookie got off to a rough start after shooting a 42 (6-over) on the front nine. Fortunately, Meronk was able to redeem himself down the stretch by compiling three straight birdies on holes 12-14, and finished the round with an eagle on 18 en route to moving into a tie for 10th with Gibson at 2-under.

Meronk and Gibson are five strokes back from North Carolina State’s Albin Choi – who enters the final round with a two shot lead over a group of three golfers. Choi, the 41st ranked golfer according to Golfstat, recorded a 4-under in the second round and is 7-under 137 for the tournament.  

After shooting a 77 on Monday, sophomore Rhys Pugh (Pontypridd, Wales) followed that up with a 1-under 71 and jumped 21 spots on the individual leaderboard. Pugh made three birdies on the front nine, but it was a double bogey on the 255-yard, par-3 13th which cost him from making a larger leap in round two. Overall, Pugh moved from being tied for 58th into a three-way tie for 37th.

The third and final round begins at 1 p.m. (Eastern) on Wednesday.

Fans can follow all the scoring live on Golfstat.com, while full recaps with scores will be available at ETSUBucs.com following the round.

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For more information on Buccaneer men’s golf, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men’s golf page.