Kei Kita and Paul Otte each shot 2-over par 146 to help UC Santa Barbara to a fifth place tie after two rounds of the OGIO-UC Santa Barbara Invitational at Sandpiper Golf Club on Monday.
As a team, the Gauchos’ score of 589 is tied with Seattle University. Both teams trail first place Saint Mary’s by 25 shots. The front-running Gaels combined for a 12-under par 564, five shots ahead of Long Beach State, 18 ahead Loyola Marymount and 23 up on Southern Utah.
RESULTS
Through the first two rounds, Saint Mary’s was led by the individual leader, Anders Engell. Engell was 3-under par after one round and then he topped that performance with an outstanding 5-under par 67 in the day’s second 18. His 8-under par 136 is four strokes better than Xander Schauffele of Long Beach who carded a 140. Five players – Mac McClung and Ben Geyer of Saint Mary’s, Kevin Lin of Long Beach, Cameron Rappleeye of Sacramento State and Bryan Bergna of Loyola Marymount – are tied for third at 2-under par.
Otte shot 73 in the first and second rounds for UCSB while Kita shot a 74 in the first round and then an even-par 72 in the second. Michael Haeri led the Gauchos in the first round with a 72, but he was unable to play in the second round because of leg cramps. Tyler Sterk (5-over par 149, tied for 30th) and Russell Boring (6-over par 150, tied for 35th) round out Santa Barbara players.
The 13 teams and several individual will play the third round on Tuesday at beautiful Sandpiper Golf Club. The first groups will tee-off on the first and 10th holes at 7:50 a.m. and the final groups will go off at 10:00 a.m.
