Wier’s 70 leads Bulldogs in 2nd round

PLYMOUTH, Ind. — Cal Wier shot 2-under 70 in the second round of the NJCAA Division II Men's Golf Championship, helping No. 2 Mississippi Gulf Coast stay within a range of the leaders midway through the event at Swan Lake Golf Resort.

The Bulldogs shot 12-over and are tied for seventh at 19-over, 16 back of leaders No. 6 Murray State.

"We've just got to have one of those days where we step up with four scores," Gulf Coast coach Brad Thornton said. "That's what we struggled with so far, but we're still not out of it. I think the conditions are going of keep everybody around if you can go post a good number, but at some point, we've got to step up and do that."

Gulf Coast, which has won the last two national championships, will tee off the third round beginning at 11:12 a.m. ET. No. 10 Meridian is in second at 7-over, tied with Southeast. No. 1 Heartland is fourth at 11-over, with No. 4 Kirkland a shot back.

Wier, a freshman from Hernando, got hot on the front, making birdie on Nos. 5, 6 and 8. He put together a long stretch of pars after that, just missing another on 18 after failing to knock in a short putt.

"I hit the ball really good with my irons to give myself a lot of looks," he said. "I made some par putts, which helped my score a lot. I had nine straight pars there. That's a good stretch out here in these conditions. The wind picked up on the back, so I was happy to make some pars and just keep it in play."

Paul Hoefer (Fr., Heidelberg, Germany/Kurpfalzgymnasium Mannheim) scrambled effectively to post a 74. He got a big break on the par-3 No. 3, when his errant tee shot hit the next tee box and bounced back on to the back of the green. His next tee shot wound up on the far side of the next fairway, and his approach landed back across the green. After pitching close, he saved another par.

"For Paul not to make any putts for birdie, he made every par putt he stood over for par," Thornton said. "He made 16 pars to shoot 74. That's a very respectable round." 

For Gulf Coast to get into position to win another title, the team will have to have more than two players put up good scores Thursday. The Bulldogs need more consistent play across their five-man squad.

They won't need to make up all the distance, but they need to take a chunk out of the leaders.

"If we do that tomorrow, we'll put ourselves in a really good position," said Thornton.

Live Tournament Scoreboard: https://scoreboard.clippd.com/tournaments/244655/scoring/team

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