University of Washington
Waikoloa Intercollegiate
Huskies Lead In Hawai'i After Two Rounds
February 04, 2010 | Men's Golf
Feb. 4, 2010
WAIKOLOA, Hawai'i - The Husky men's golf team sits atop the leaderboard of the Mauna Lani Invitational after they shot a collective 1-under-par 287 in second round action on Thursday. Senior Nick Taylor is second among individual competitors at 3-under overall.
Washington, ranked No. 8 in Golfweek.com's rankings, is +2 (578) overall and will take a two-stroke lead over Stanford into the final round. Oregon is third, followed by Oklahoma State and Texas. UCLA is tied for fifth, USC seventh and Oregon State 10th to give six conference schools in the top-10.
For a second-consecutive day, the wind was howling, but the Huskies were able to overcome the adverse conditions. "Real tough conditions out there," coach Matt Thurmond would tell Golfstat.com after the round. "Not quite as tough as yesterday, so I thought we should be ready for it. We played well."
Taylor, a senior from Abbottsford, British, Columbia, was 1-under 71 on the day and had a chance to enter the clubhouse tied for the lead. For the day, Taylor had five birdies and four bogeys. He had back-to-back birdies on No. 7 and 8, which were his 15th and 16th holes because of a 7:30 a.m. shotgun start, to put him in position for at least a share of the lead. He bogeyed his final hole of the day, No. 10, and ended up one stroke back of Oklahoma State's Kevin Tway.
Junior Tze Huang Choo equaled Taylor with a 1-under 71. The Singapore native bounced back after shooting an 8-over 80 in the first round. Choo was as low as 4-under par at one point, but a stretch of bogeys on three-straight holes put his score closer to par.
Freshman Charlie Hughes had another solid day with his second-consecutive round of even par 72 golf. He is tied for sixth and in contention for his first career top-10 finish.
Darren Wallace is currently 20th at +3. He nearly got derailed early after a bogey and triple bogey on his first nine, but was able to bounce back on his second nine, thanks in large part to an eagle on the par-5 7th hole. He would end up at 1-over 73 on the day.
"I'm really excited about the way Wallace came back after being over early," said Thurmond. "He had a great finish."
Third-team All-American Richard Lee struggled for the second-consecutive day shooting a 4-over 76. He is tied with Choo, and Chris Killmer, competing as an individual, at +7 (151).
1. Washington, +2 (291-287-578)
2. Nick Taylor, -3 (70-71-141)
T6. Charlie Hughes, E (72-72-144)
T20. Darren Wallace, +3 (74-73-147)
T42. Richard Lee, +7 (75-76-151)
T42. Tze Huang Choo, +7 (80-71-151)
T42. Chris Killmer (I), +7 (78-73-151)
