University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Off the Tee, Day Two, at the Sam Hall Intercollegiate
2/17/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Off the Tee, Day Two, at the Sam Hall Intercollegiate
Day 2, the 36-hole day, February 17, 2003
We woke up to a very cold morning and arrived at the golf course an hour before the 7:30 a.m. shotgun start. It was much to our surprise when Coach Johnson told us that there would be an hour delay on the starting time. I immediately thought there must be frost on the greens, causing the delay. It turned out that someone had pulled the fire alarm at the host hotel, and a few teams got drenched by the sprinklers at 4:30 a.m. That was a new one for me and probably for all of college golf.
We finally teed off at 8:30 a.m., on the frozen tundra. Ben Snow was well prepared, wearing at least four layers of clothing. I had two pair of socks on, and my feet were still frozen. Usually you can play a round of golf at Hattiesburg Country Club in less than four hours. Today, it took almost five hours, and as a result we finished in near darkness. Welcome to a college golf tournament where everything slows down to a crawl, and it makes for the longest day of your life.
Sophomore Shane Rushing came out firing at the pins, birdying three-out-of-the-first four holes. He finished the day shooting 66-71 ? 137 and took a one-shot lead into Tuesday for the individual medalist honors.
We all played fairly solid today, and once again we have a chance to win. Mike Soroka struggled all day with the putter. I think he was putting with his eyes closed. Needless to say, he hit the ball better than Tiger Woods because he didn?t make a putt the second round and shot 71.
The 36-hole day definitely wears on you, especially when you have to walk the whole time. After the second round I felt like going right to bed, and it was only 6:00p.m. Tomorrow, the weather will be better, and so will our scores. Everyone is playing well, and the putts that didn?t fall today will fall tomorrow.
Mike Soroka promised me that he will putt with his eyes open tomorrow, so expect a great performance from him. Justin Elliott always plays well the last day, as the statistics will show.
Ben Snow said he is not going to put any more dummy marks on the top of his driver, so expect a low round from him. It will be fun to watch so don?t miss out on all the crushed drives and holed putts.
