Nelson advances, Wildcats won't

May 14, 2009

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - Finishing a disappointing 25th, the Linfield Wildcats shot a combined score of 310 on Thursday and did not make the 23-team cut following the second day of competition at the NCAA Division III Championships being staged this week at PGA Village.

Linfield’s silver lining was the finish of Wildcats junior Tyler Nelson (Sr., Spokane, Wash.), who shot 150 over 36 holes and qualified to continue competing as an individual.

As a team, Linfield struggled on the greens of the championship-caliber Dye Course. Still, their score was three strokes better than Wednesday’s total of 313 on the Ryder Course.

“We had a tough, tough start,” said Wildcats coach Greg Copeland. “We just didn’t have it early. We made a push on the second nine but didn’t score well enough to make a run.”

The Wildcats’ two-day total of 623 was four strokes back of 23rd place Monmouth College of Illinois.

“We took a lot of putts,” said Copeland. “We had a number of 6-to-7 foot opportunities on the greens that just didn’t go in.”

After carding a 71 on the first day, Nelson finished at six-over-par 150, good for 48th place on the individual scoreboard. Nelson’s season will continue while the other Wildcats will lend their moral support.

“My goal the rest of the way is keep my score at 10-over or lowerf,” said Nelson. “If I can do that, I should be able to move up some in the standings.”

Brothers Andrew Fitch and Alex Fitch (Soph., Redmond, Ore.) each scored 78s on Day 2. Alex finished at 157 while Andrew shot a 161 for over 36 holes. Linfield senior Kevin Duerr shot 79 to finish in a tie for 133rd place at 159. Yutaro Sakamoto (Jr., Mountain View, Calif.) shrugged off a rough day on Wednesday to lead the Wildcats with a 75.

Tyler Nelson
Season continues at NCAAs