COLLEGE GROVE, Tenn. – After strong starts to the NCAA College Grove Regional tournament by junior Manuel Elvira and sophomore Kyler Tate, the University of Central Florida Knights have swung its way into a tie for second place, aiming for a spot in the NCAA Championship.
With the top-five teams making the championship after Wednesday’s final round, the Knights are in a good position to advance themselves to the championship that will take place May 26-31 at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Illinois.
"Today was another solid day for our team," UCF men's golf coach Bryce Wallor said in a story on UCFKnights.com. "The team has continued to work hard after each round and the effort is paying off to this point."
Elvira and Tate currently are tied for fourth in the individual standings as Elvira had a great opening round, shooting a five-under, birdying his first four of his first eight holes in Monday’s contest. Elvira started his Tuesday round with two more birdies, but fell into a bit of a slump after bogeying four times, leading to an even day and minus-5 for the tournament.
Tate also found four birdies and two bogies in the front nine of Tuesday’s contest, while then proceeding to par holes 10-17. He finished minus-3 for the day, creating strong momentum for the final round of the tournament.
"Both Kyler and Ryan [Stovash] had under par rounds today with slightly more difficult wind and course conditions," Wallor said in the UCFKnights.com story. "Manuel played another strong round today, following up his opening round of five under par with a solid even par round."
Stovash, who had trouble in the opening round hitting an over-11, came back strong with a minus-2 today.
The Knights will look to be one of 30 teams hitting away in late May as the golf team tees off for the final round of the regional tournament tomorrow morning.