University of Washington
The Gifford Collegiate (Purple)
Dawgs, Pereira Take Lead At Gifford Collegiate
November 03, 2015 | Men's Golf
Live Scoring
CARLSBAD, Calif. – Washington continued its excellent play at the Gifford Collegiate, firing the low score of the second round to take over the lead. The Dawgs finished with a score of 9-under 275 and are now 8-under for the tournament played at the La Costa Legends Course.
The Huskies hold a two-shot lead over No. 5 Stanford, but have otherwise begun to separate from the rest of the field that includes nine teams ranked in the top-50. No. 43 San Diego State is third at 4-over, while No. 28 and host UCLA is fourth at 7-over and No. 29 Oregon is fifth at 9-over.
"Today was a great day for us to see what we can be," said head coach Matt Thurmond. "We know we are deep, but it is nice to prove it. We counted four scores in the sixties on a day there weren't many of those."
The Huskies once again got great play throughout the lineup as all four scores kept were under par. Corey Pereira led the charge, shooting a second round of 3-under 68 to take the overall lead at 5-under. He leads by one over Jeffrey Swegle of Stanford, while Philip Juel-Berg of Colorado and David Boote of Stanford are tied for third at 3-over.
Pereira got his round going early, eagling the short par-four second and then went on to make four birdies against three bogeys. The junior is looking for his second tournament win of the season and third of his career after winning the Husky Invitational earlier this fall and tying for the win at the Lampkin San Diego Invitational last spring.
Pereira is not the only Husky playing well, however, as three Dawgs finished with rounds of 2-under 69. Among that group is senior Chris Babcock who hasn't even played in the Washington lineup yet this season, but now finds himself tied for fifth overall after 36 holes. Babcock made four birdies to just two bogeys on Tuesday and is just three shots out of his teammate's lead.
The other 69's came from Frank Garber and Jonathan Sanders who each made six birdies on the difficult Legends Course. Garber is now 1-under for the tournament and tied for ninth, while Sanders is 1-over and tied for 12th.
Carl Yuan also played well, firing a round of 1-over 72, but had his score thrown out thanks to the brilliant play of his teammates. Yuan is still tied for 26th overall at 3-over through two rounds.
Playing as an individual, Matt Marrese shot 6-over 77 and is now tied for 48th overall.
"We've been focusing a lot on how we compete and the type of energy we bring every day," said Thurmond. "I love that they are seeing the rewards of playing with the whole soul for 18 holes. Tomoorrow will be a fun day."
Washington will return to La Costa for Wednesday's final round, playing the final groups off the first tee. The Dawgs will look to hang on and win their second tournament of the fall, while Pereira also continues his quest for another individual medal.
