Second Round Results
HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, FLORIDA – The Otterbein University men’s golf team missed the cut at the 2012 NCAA Championships, being played May 15-18 at the Mission Inn Resort in Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida.
The Cardinals finished at +40, posting a two-day total of 616 (312-304) to finish 21st out of 41 teams. The top-15 schools made the cut to play Thursday and Friday.
“Our Achilles heel all along has been big numbers, and that happened to us on day one,” said head coach Matt Cooperrider. “We unfortunately built up a stiff deficit that was difficult to overcome. We knew coming into today that we had to shoot a really low number, probably somewhere in the low 290’s. It just didn’t happen.”
“It’s a great reward to be able to compete in this event,” Cooperrider added. “The guys felt more comfortable on the course we played today and they spent the last eight holes in the rain. I was proud of the way they handled it to come in.”
Graduate student and Ohio Athletic Conference medalist Ben Adams led the way for Otterbein, bouncing back from his opening round 76 to post one-over par (73) in Wednesday’s second round. He finished in a tie for 31st on the individual leaderboard consisting of 202 players.
“Ben has been the glue for us the past couple weeks,” Cooperrider explained. “He fought and scraped today, and it’s been awesome to see him finish his career like he has.”
Sophomore Matt Mosca was steady over the two days, shooting 77-75 (+8) en route to placing tied for 58th. Both Mosca and Adams carded five birdies over the first two days.
Senior Brock Neighbors rebounded from an 80 in round one to record a three-over 75 on Wednesday, shooting 36-39 for the final round of his collegiate career.
Fellow senior Taylor Ford posted 79-81 while junior Taylor Harle went 82-87 to round out the Otterbein lineup.
“I’m so proud of our three seniors and what they accomplished in making it to the NCAA's three times in a four-year span,” said Cooperrider.” Anytime you qualify for the national tournament you’re doing something right. We won six times this year and we have some quality players coming in to help us get back next spring. Matt Mosca is growing tremendously and I know Taylor Harle has the mindset to improve heading into his senior season. Combining our incoming talent with them gives this program great optimism heading forward.”
