MADISON, Miss. – The Coastal Carolina University men's golf team shot a two-over 290 to finish the second round of the 2023 Sun Belt Conference Men's Golf Championship on Tuesday in a tie for ninth place at nine-over 585 on the team leaderboard at the Annandale Golf Club in Madison, Miss.
The Chants knocked five shots off their first-round score and are only seven shots out of second place and four shots out of a top-four spot. The top four teams after Wednesday's third round will move into match play on Thursday.
After shooting a one-under in the opening round,
Seth Taylor shot a four-under 68 in Tuesday's action to move to a five-under 139 (71-68) for the championship. The senior enters tomorrow's action just one shot off the lead in second place. He collected five birdies with only one bogey in his round. It was the 15th time in his career Taylor has shot a round in the 60s and the 41st round of par-or-better scoring.
After picking up birdies on three of the four par-5 holes in today's round, Taylor is tied for the lead in par-5 scoring average at 4.38 and also in par-3 scoring with a 2.88 scoring average. He also had nine total birdies in the first two rounds which is tied for the third most in the championship. His 4.05 scoring average on the par-4 holes is tied for 18th.
Connor Newton shot an even-par 72 in his second round and now sits tied for 38th at five-over 149 (77-72). He is tied for fifth in par-3 scoring with a 3.00 scoring average, while his 24 pars are tied for tied for 13th in the tournament field.
Owen Kim shot a one-over 73 in today's round and enters the final round tied for 44th at six-over 150 (77-73), while
Garrett Cooper and
Trey Crenshaw will enter the final round tied for 48th at seven-over 151.
Crenshaw added to his par total in today's round and is tied for fifth in the championship with 26, while his 4.05 scoring average on the par-4 holes is tied for 18th.
Georgia Southern, who started the round in sixth place, surged to the lead by carding an eight-under 280 to move to three-under 573 for the championship. Louisiana is second at two-over 578, two strokes in front of the first-round leader, Troy (+4, 580).
There is a three-way tie for fourth as Southern Miss, Texas State, and South Alabama each stand at five-over 581. Arkansas State had the day's low round, shooting a nine-under 279. That score pushed the Red Wolves (+7, 583) up five spots into seventh, just one spot in front of ULM (+8, 584).
CCU and James Madison are tied for ninth standing at nine-over 585, and rounding out the field are Georgia State (+17, 593), Appalachian State (+20, 596), ODU (+24, 600), and Marshall (+25, 601).
Wednesday's third round is scheduled to tee off at 9:30 a.m. ET. Fans can watch live on ESPN+ and can follow the live scoring at
www.Golfstat.com with links for both at
www.GoCCUSports.com.
For complete coverage of CCU men's golf, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalMGolf (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at goccusports.com.
