April 25, 2011
LAKE OF THE OZARKS, Mo. -
The 2011 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championship was suspended Monday, as the field of nine teams was only able to complete the first round at the Club at Porto Cima, before a lightning delay left the Redbirds in a tie for fourth place with Creighton. ISU and Creighton both carded single-round 312's.
The championship is scheduled to continue as planned, with the remainder of the second round starting Tuesday at 8:00 a.m., and the third round following immediately after in order to complete the 54-hole tournament.
As for the Redbirds, Jeff Kellen and Will Cullen led the group by firing first-round 77's, placing the two seniors in a tie for ninth place.
Eric Meier (79) and Wils Hawn (79) finished the round two strokes behind Kellen and Cullen, as both sit tied for 19th place going into the second day of competition.
Ricky Hearden ended the first round with an 81, tying him for 28th place.
"Conditions made the first round challenging, and while we were missing a couple low numbers to keep us at the top of the leader board, we hung in there collectively," said head coach Ray Kralis. "We still have a long way to go, but our time is right now in round two. We need to close the gap a bit to set up round three."
The Redbirds sit two strokes behind third-place Evansville and four strokes ahead of fourth-place Bradley.
Kellen and Cullen's ninth-place tie is shared with Evansville's Parker Hensley, Creighton's John Rasmussen and Northern Iowa's Kyle Beversdorf.
Wichita State leads the field with a single-round 303 and Drake's Cody Schweinefus leads individually with a three-under-par 69.
Live scoring will be available for the second and third rounds at GolfStat.com, with results from each round to be distributed immediately after the conclusion.
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