Meronk, Hickman, Pugh all in top-10

JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. (Oct. 11, 2014) – The 31st-ranked ETSU men’s golf team has three players in the top-10 and the Buccaneers are in second-place following the conclusion of day two of the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate at the Blackthorn Club on Saturday.

The Bucs, who finished first round play earlier Saturday morning, completed second round play despite sitting through a two-hour weather delay that began at 3:15 p.m. Six teams were still on the course when second round play was suspended due to darkness on Saturday night and those teams will finish their round beginning Sunday at 9 a.m.

Overall, ETSU enters Sunday’s round with a team score of 13-under-par 563 (281-282) and sit five shots back of team leader and No. 12 Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons are at 18-under-par 558 (280-278). The Bucs have never won the team tournament in the previous 16 years of the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate as ETSU’s top finishes came in 2006 and 2008 when the Blue and Gold came in second.

“The guys played well overall and we did a lot of good things today,” said head coach Fred Warren. “Adrian had two eagles, while Chris and Rhys are also in the top-10, so we are pleased with that. Wake Forest is playing great and they deserve a lot of credit. We just need to keep doing what we are doing. We played really well all day and had a couple of hiccups, but we need to focus on the good things. Five shots can be made up, but we can only focus on what we can control.”  

The Bucs were within one shot of Wake Forest late, but the par-4, 17th gave ETSU troubles down the stretch. Adrian Meronk (Wroclaw, Poland) and Rhys Pugh (Pontypridd, Wales) both carded a double-bogey and Mateusz Gradecki (Oborniki Śląskie, Poland) walked away with a bogey on the second-to-last hole.

Despite his double-bogey on No. 17, Meronk still sits in third-place at 6-under-par 138 (70-68) and is four shots off the lead. The Buccaneer junior recorded a pair of eagles and four birdies in the second round. Meronk’s first eagle came on the par-5, 4th and moved to 6-under for the round following the eagle on the par-5, 14th. Following the pair of eagles, the Bucs have now registered four on the weekend.

Junior Chris Hickman (Centreville, Md.) enjoyed a strong finish as he played the final six holes at 2-under and is tied for fourth at 5-under-par 139 (69-70), while Pugh is tied for eighth at 3-under-par 141 (70-71). Gradecki is tied for 34th at 1-over-par 145 (72-73).

Wake Forest’s Will Zalatoris is the individual leader at 10-under-par 134 and has a two stroke advantage over Virginia’s Denny McCarthy.  

Senior Tom Heggarty (Cheshire, England), who is competing as an individual, finished the day at 2-under and is tied for 12th. Heggarty carded a 1-over 73 in the opening round and is 3-under-par thru 12 holes in round two. Heggarty’s score does not count in ETSU’s team scoring.

The Bucs begin play at 9:40 a.m. on Sunday as junior Gudmundur Kristjansson (Reykjavik, Iceland) will be the first ETSU golfer on the course. Kristjansson is tied for 74th. ETSU will be paired with Virginia and Wake Forest.

Live scoring for the tournament can be found on Golfstat, while recaps following each day will be available on ETSUBucs.com. Twitter updates can be accessed by following @ETSUAthletics and Instagram posts can be found by also following @ETSUAthletics.

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