VERONA, Wis. – Alex McCulla rebounded from an opening round in which he struggled and carded a second-round 69 (-3) at the Badger Invitational, as the Redbirds are in fourth place with 18 holes to play in the tournament tomorrow.
ISU finished with a one-over 289 in the second of three rounds, and has a 36-hole score of 571, and the team trails just tournament host Wisconsin (561), Long Beach State (563), and Northern Illinois (563). Among the schools trailing the Redbirds includes Washington State (572), Southern Miss (574), Nebraska (575), Memphis (577), Minnesota (580), South Dakota State (590), Ball State (592), Southern Illinois (593), Western Kentucky (593), Winthrop (594), VCU (598), and Green Bay (608).
The Redbirds, Washington State, and Southern Miss tee off for the third and final round on Tuesday morning in a shotgun start final round at 9:30 a.m. with Pietro Pontiggia and TJ Barger each going off the fourth hole, Will Troy the fifth hole, and Aiden Cudney and Alex McCulla off the sixth hole. Playing as an individual, Francis Bautista will go off the 18th hole in his final round of the tournament.
Barger heads into the final round knotted at the fourth spot in the field, while Pontiggia is tied for 17th. Troy is in a tie of 32nd after 36 holes, while McCulla – behind his strong second round – climbed into a tie for 38th. Newcomers Cudney – tied for 66th – and Bautista – tied for 79th – round out the Redbirds in the field.
McCulla got off to a strong start, as he had an eagle, two birdies, and six pars over his opening nine holes, making the turn at four strokes under par. His back nine opened with five straight pars before two bogeys and a par over his next three holes pushed him to two shots under par; however, he closed strong with a birdie on his final hole to give him his final score.
Berger carded his second consecutive round under par with a two-under 70, one that had seven birdies in all on the day, along with eight pars.
Pontiggia – one of two Redbirds to lead the team after the first day – used three birdies over his final five holes of the front nine to make the turn at even par, and after a par, double bogey, and bogey to open his back nine, he had five pars and a birdie to finish the round with the two-over 74.
Troy had a birdie and a dozen pars in his second round, finishing with a four-over 76, one round after a two-under 70.
Cudney, ISU's fifth golfer on the day, had a birdie and 11 pars in his second round 78, while Bautista had a birdie and nine pars in his turn around the golf course.
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