Solid Play Cut Short Again

TOLEDO -- Given a late afternoon start time, junior Brady Johnson was once again cut a little short of a complete round as darkness set in after 14 holes of play at the NCAA D-I Men’s Golf Championships.

After a rainstorm caused delays in Wednesday’s round two, Johnson began play early Thursday morning to finish off the last nine holes and ended the second round at 8-over-par with a 1-over effort at the par-71 Inverness Country Club.

Johnson came up with a solid start to the windy third round as he birdied two holes and had eight pars to end at 3-over-par before play was postponed until Friday morning to finish off the final four holes. He will tee off on the sixth hole at approximately 5 a.m. MT to complete the front nine and his bout for a strong finish to the championship.

“After a rough opening hole, he came back with good shots and ended with a decent 14 holes,” said BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank. “He was tired toward the end due to his 5 a.m. wakeup time this morning so he struggled a bit with maintaining momentum, but he stayed in there. He’s also battling strong winds that most haven’t had to worry about with their earlier start times.”

With his 14-hole effort, he moved up two spots from being tied for 80th place overall to a 12-way tie for 78th place at 11-over-par overall.

Oklahoma State won the stroke-play championship at 3-under-par ahead of Arizona State, who finished at 10-over. The top eight teams advanced to play in a match-play championship Friday and Saturday to determine the national champion. Matt Hill of North Carolina State won the individual field at 6-under-par.

Johnson can be followed on his final four holes at golfstat.com.

“We hope he continues to battle and do his best,” Brockbank said. “He’s been doing okay, but we know he can do better.”

2009 NCAA D-I Men's Golf Championships
Advancing Teams
1.  (2)Oklahoma State       -3
2. (13)Arizona State       +10
3.  (3)USC                 +13
4. (10)Arkansas            +13
5.  (4)Washington          +13
6. (39)Michigan            +16
7. (15)Texas A&M           +17
8.  (1)Georgia             +17
Individuals
1   Matt Hill, NC State        -6
2   Kyle Stanley, Clemson      -4
T31 Corey Nagy, Charlotte      +5
T55 Hugues Joannes, Lamar      +8
T55 Cody Paladino, Baylor      +8
T78 Brady Johnson, BYU        +11