TURLOCK, Calif. --- Biola Men's Golf tackled the beginning of its final regular season tournament on Monday, completing the first two rounds at the prestigious Hanny Stanislaus Invitational at the Turlock Golf & Country Club.
The Eagles carded team scores of 307 and 320 to sit 17th overall in the 46th annual running of the Stanislaus State tournament, which is named in honor of former Stanislaus State head coach Jim Hanny.
Biola had the highest team score in each round on a day where it struggled to fall into its groove throughout. Even with those struggles, the Eagles sit within striking distance of the top-12 teams headed into Tuesday's final round.
"The guys were disappointed with not being able to make many putts today, but are optimistic about seeing more putts drop tomorrow in the final round," said Head Coach Cory Page.
Austin Bishop is the Eagles' low man after day one, after the senior was the only BU student-athlete to shoot both rounds in the 70s. Bishop carded a round one 75 and followed it up with a 77 to sit 58th overall headed into the final day. Bishop shot three birdies and 22 pars, never once scoring more than one stroke over par.
"Austin played well and was able to survive the rain during the second round to post a 77," said Page.
Karson Dreher and Kyle McAbee had the best single hole performances of the day. Dreher, the junior, recorded an eagle on the par-5 hole two during his first round. Dreher shot an 88 in round one and followed it up with a 90 in round two to sit 91st overall after two rounds. He was playing as an individual in this tournament.
McAbee's eagle came on the significantly shorter par-5 15th hole. It was one of five under-par holes for McAbee on Monday. The senior put together a tremendous front nine during the first round and coupled it with a stellar back nine in the second round. He was just two over par during that 18-hole stretch. For the day McAbee had Biola's third-best score, shooting 77 and 81 for a 158 (+14).
Scott Hatfield, the first-year Eagle, tied his two-round season best with a 156 (+12). He shot his best round of the season (74) in the first round. He followed that up with an 82 in the second round to sit 72nd in the tournament.
His tremendous first round score was built on 10 pars, three birdies and zero holes over bogey. Tomorrow he will set his sights on his best tournament score of the season. Anything 101 and under will do that for him, so the chances are very, very good.
"I was really happy for Scott, he played very consistent, making few mistakes in his first round today," said Page. "Things were looking better for the team at the beginning of the second round, but had a tough time closing it out as rain was steadily falling for the last couple hours of the first day."
Rounding out Biola's counting scores were Kaden Page (83-80 | +19) and Dominic Ariondo (81-83 | +20). Ariondo shot even par on par-threes, so if he can make improvements on the longer holes there's room to improve on day two.
Chico State holds a huge lead in the tournament after the first day, shooting a 559 (-17) as a team. The Wildcats are 21 strokes up on any other team. Three of the tournament's top-6 scorers come from CSUC, including the tournament leader, Josh McCollum, who shot a pair of 67s to sit at 10-under. He's up five strokes on the current runner-up from CSU East Bay.
The third and final round is set for 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Follow the tournament with live scoring at http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=17306.
