The Long Beach State men’s golf team sits in fifth place at the Del Walker Intercollegiate Golf Classic after round two was suspended Thursday due to darkness.
The 49ers carded a 1-over-par 351 at the Virginia Country Club, with second-round play scheduled to resume Friday morning at 8:30 a.m.
LBSU was paced by senior Michael Drake, who currently sits in a tie for fifth at 6-under par. After taking a 2-under score into round two, Drake kicked off his second round with a birdie on the fourth hole and followed it up with birdies at No. 6, 10 and 12 before play was halted.
“I stayed composed. I got out to a decent start [and] was hitting the ball pretty good,” Drake said. “I didn’t find it again until about the seventh hole of the second round. But I was able to keep getting up-and-down, making lots of putts.”
Freshman Benjamin Lein is in a four-way tie for 11th at 3-under par. Lein carded a 1-under score in round one and completed 15 holes in round two, posting birdies at Nos. 11 and 13.
Steve Gibson is in a tie for 30th after finishing round one tied for eighth. Gibson bogeyed Nos. 3, 4, and 7 — to supplement a double bogey at the fifth hole — before recovering with birdies on Nos. 8 and 11 to finish his day.
“Steve Gibson and Mike Drake and Ben Lein had solid under-par rounds, so that helped us out a bit,” LBSU head coach Bill Poutre said. “We just left a few shots out there.”
Sophomore Kevin Roy is positioned in a tie for 52nd after taking a 4-over score into the clubhouse. Philip Chian and Raymond Ho are tied for 66th at 6-over par. Chian has three holes remaining in the second round, while Ho has six left to play.
No. 41 Colorado State currently leads the 16-team field at 12-under par, three strokes ahead of No. 14 Oregon before play was stopped.
“I think Virginia Country Club ought to send membership bills [to Colorado State] because they’ve won [this tournament] two years in a row and are dominating again,” Poutre joked.
Daniel Cone of Saint Mary’s College sits atop the individual leaderboard with a 9-under score, protecting a one-shot lead over Scott Clayton of UC Riverside.
“We played pretty well. We left a few out on the golf course in the morning,” Poutre said. “[We] probably could’ve finished our morning round a little bit better. But all-in-all, we played pretty well.
“We’ve got to close out our rounds, we’ve got to do all the little things right [tomorrow].”
Final round action is slated for Friday morning after the completion of round two. Visit golfstat.com for live updates of the tournament.
Managing editor Tracy McDannald contributed to this report.