April 14, 2012
IOWA CITY, Iowa - With a two round total of 572 (284-288) at the Hawkeye-Great River Entertainment Invitational held at the 7,180-yard, par-72 Finkbine Golf Course, the Penn State squad is out to its best tournament start on the season. The Nittany Lions will enter the final round in third on the 11-team field.
"Today was the best day we have had all year keeping our cool, continuing to compete hard all day," said Coach Greg Nye. "These guys know that is what it takes and they did a great job of it today."
Penn State falls just 16 strokes behind first-place Iowa and 10 strokes behind second-place Iowa State. All three schools have clung to their positions on the team leader board since the conclusion of the first round.
Anthony DeGol (Hollidaysburg, Pa.) had an excellent showing in both rounds to pace Penn State. The talented junior posted a career-best 67 in round one, followed by a previous career-best of 68 in the second. DeGol sits tied for second with a score of 135, just two strokes behind first place Nate McCoy of Iowa State.
"Anthony had a great day, he hit it well, but took it deep because he had an excellent round putting," said Coach Nye.
Freshman Jens Talbert (Little Rock, Ark.) carded rounds of 71-73 (144) to tie for 16th. Senior Tommy McDonagh (East Norwalk, Conn.) concluded just one stroke behind Talbert with a 145 (71-74) to tie for 20th. Junior Jay Woodward (Bridgeport, W.Va.) and freshman Xander McDonald-Smith(Rockaway Park, N.Y.) are tied for 41st with scores of 149.
The final 18 holes will be played on Sunday with a shotgun start at 10 a.m. Live stats are available at Golfstat.