The Chattanooga Mocs men’s golf team improved a shot over the opening 18 with a 6-over par 294 Saturday at the Farm. That puts the good guys in 12th at 589, the best 36-hole score at the Carpet Capital Collegiate for the program since 2014’s 573.
Will Porter led the way with 2-under 70. His card included five birdies, which is his second highest in a round since six last year over the Tiger Invitational’s final round. The effort pushed him into the top 20 tied for 18th at level-par 144.
Oliver Simonsen nearly matched Porter’s number turning in even-par 72.
The trio of A.J. Lintunen, Etienne Brault and Lake Johnson each tallied 76.
The squad was 4-under through seven holes heading into the treacherous par 3 eighth. Bogeys across the board dropped them back to E before two bogeys at nine sent the Mocs into the back nine at 2 over.
They could not take advantage of scoring conditions at the early part of the turn. Just Porter and Lintunen managed birdies on the par 5 12th getting the team back to 1 over. Porter’s birdie on 13 and Brault’s on the 18th were the final sub-par numbers of the day.
Defending champion Georgia Tech and Tennessee share the lead at 556. Alabama lurks two back in third at 558. The team leaders are led by two atop the individual leaderboard in Tyler Strafaci (Georgia Tech) and Jake Meenhorst (Tennessee) at 9 under.
LINEUP
T18) Will Porter: 74-70=144 (E)
T35) Lake Johnson: 71-76=147 (+3)
T47) A.J. Lintunen: 73-76=149 (+5)
T47) Oliver Simonsen: 77-72=149 (+5)
74) Etienne Brault: 79-76=155 (+11)
“Great job by Will and Oliver improving four and five shots from yesterday's round'" UTC Head Coach Mark Guhne said. "We played the hard side (front 9) well even with five bogeys on the eighth. We were in position heading into the scoring area of the course but didn't take advantage.
I like the way we cut down on the high numbers, but we have to sharpen up. There were a few bogeys out there that were self-inflicted.”