University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Isleworth Intercollegiate
Wingardh in First as Vols Rally
October 25, 2010 | Men's Golf
Oct. 25, 2010
Robin Wingardh's answer to a good opening round Sunday was an even better one Monday. Now the Tennessee senior sits alone atop the individual leaderboard after 36 holes at the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational in Windermere, Fla.
The senior captain's play sparked an all-around improved effort for the Vols, who bettered their Sunday score by 15 strokes and jumped four positions to 10th place. Tennessee combined for a 6-over 294 that pushed their two-day total to 27-over-par 603.
Wingardh carded six birdies during en route to his 4-under-par 68, the second-best round of this week's elite tournament and good enough for a two-shot cushion heading into Tuesday's final stanza.
"One extra round on this course made me feel more comfortable today," Wingardh said. "And today, I knew exactly what club I wanted to hit off every tee. I think that helped a little bit.
"I hit 12 greens in regulation and got five of the other six up-and-down, so I saved a lot of good pars. I've been working on my short game and my putting was really good today."
Now if he can just figure out how to play the ninth and 18th holes.
UT's senior captain has five bogeys over his first two days and four of those have come on the two closing holes. Both par 4s, No. 9 is a 443-yard dogleg around water to the left, while No. 18 plays to 477 yards and doglegs right toward a narrow green.
"They are really tough because they are really long," said Wingardh, who reached No. 18 in regulation but three-putted from long distance. "I think they are the two hardest holes on the course. At least 18 is. It plays right into the wind."
Wingardh finished his day with six birdies against just the two bogeys. For the second afternoon in a row he birdied four of the nine holes on Isleworth's homeward side, which Tennessee played first on Monday. This time, however, Wingardh added a pair of birdies on the front nine.
UT's Darren Renwick and Brandon Rodgers rebounded admirably from Sunday disasters to post a pair of 75s. Renwick's second-day figure was an eight-shot improvement and left the junior tied for 63rd at 14-over-par 158. Rodgers, meanwhile, bettered his opening 18 holes by 11 strokes and is tied for 69th at 17-over 161. Renwick finished the day with two birdies and Rodgers three.
Max Smith also improved his score from Sunday, shaving three strokes off for a 76. The freshman had three birdies and is tied for 51st place at 11-over-par 155. Smith also made par at the ninth hole, the first UT player to break even at either of the troublesome closing holes.
Misfortune on the last two holes kept Garrick Porteous from contributing to Tennessee's score. The junior finished with a 77 that included a triple-bogey on the eighth and a bogey at the ninth. Porteous is tied for 42nd place at 9-over 153.
Stanford's Andrew Yun is second individually at 3-under 141, just ahead of Oklahoma State's Morgan Hoffman at 2-under 142.
Alabama owns two of the five best team scores over the two days and carries a four-stroke lead into Tuesday. The Crimson Tide are at 7-over 583 to lead second-place LSU (587) and Stanford (587), with TCU (589), Florida (595) and Oklahoma State (595) rounding out the top five.
Tennessee's final round begins Tuesday at 8:50 a.m. Eastern time, the Vols joining Georgia and Texas on the 10th tee. Weather conditions in the Orlando area call for a 20 percent chance of rain and a high reaching the low 90s, with winds 10-15 mph.
Live scoring is available at UTsports.com via golfstat.com.
| TEAM SCORES | ||
| 1. | Alabama | 291-292--583 (+7) |
| T-2. | LSU | 293-294--587 (+11) |
| T-2. | Stanford | 290-297--587 (+11) |
| 4. | TCU | 290-299--589 (+13) |
| T-5. | Florida | 305-290--595 (+19) |
| T-5. | Oklahoma State | 298-297--595 (+19) |
| 7. | Texas Tech | 297-300--597 (+21) |
| 8. | Vanderbilt | 298-302--600 (+24) |
| 9. | Central Florida | 307-294--601 (+25) |
| 10. | TENNESSEE | 309-294--603 (+27) |
| 11. | Georgia | 304-301--605 (+29) |
| T-12. | Texas | 309-297--606 (+30) |
| T-12. | Ohio State | 299-307--606 (+30) |
| 14. | SMU | 301-307--608 (+32) |
| 15. | Arizona | 302-315--617 (+41) |
| INDIVIDUAL LEADERS | ||
| 1. | Robin Wingardh, TENNESSEE | 71-68--139 (-5) |
| 2. | Andrew Yun, Stanford | 71-71--141 (-3) |
| 3. | Morgan Hoffman, Oklahoma State | 71-71--142 (-2) |
| T-4. | Sang Yi, LSU | 72-71--143 (-1) |
| T-4. | Andrew Loupe, LSU | 70-73--143 (-1) |
| UT SCORES | ||
| 1. | Robin Wingardh | 71-68--139 (-5) |
| T-42. | Garrick Porteous | 76-77--153 (+9) |
| T-51. | Max Smith | 79-76--155 (+11) |
| T-63. | Darren Renwick | 83-75--158 (+14) |
| T-69. | Brandon Rodgers | 86-75--161 (+17) |
Players Mentioned
