Fresno State Athletics
Dogs on Attack in Arizona
2/1/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Feb. 1, 2010
FRESNO, Calif. - If not for a slow start, some poor putting, and first round of even par, the Fresno State men's golf team would likely be leading the field at the 2010 Ping Arizona Intercollegiate held at the famed Arizona National Club in Tucson, Arizona.
As it stands, the Bulldogs, behind the strong play of three players posting red numbers, shot 11-under par in the second round Tuesday to climb to third place. The Dogs' score was the second-best of any team for the round, and Fresno State trails leader Cal by 14 shots and the host Wildcats by five.
Heading into Tuesday's final round of 18 holes, the Dogs lead several ranked teams, including No. 3 Florida, No. 10 Texas A&M, the defending NCAA champion, and No. 15 UNLV. The Dogs have a two-shot cushion over Pepperdine, and are three up on the Gators, Aggies and New Mexico, the other schools that round out the Top 5 standings.
Leading the way for the Bulldogs is sensational sophomore Bhavik Patel who is tied for third place at 8-under par (69-65--134), two strokes behind co-leaders Michael Weaver of Cal and New Mexico's John Catlin.
Patel had a masterful second round of 65, the lowest score of the afternoon. He made seven birdies and just one bogey. Patel is coming off a strong summer and fall season in which he reached the semi-finals at the 2009 U.S. Amateur Championship and had two top five finishes on the NCAA circuit.
What makes Patel's day more remarkable is that he's been battling food poisoning and was not able to eat in more than 24 hours before the tournament started and hardly slept Sunday night. According to head coach Mike Watney, Patel could not take a full swing and gave up a lot of distance on his shots during the round, but maintained a solid tempo that led to two good rounds of golf. Patel was visibly ill on the course, often doubled over in pain with stomach cramps.
"What Bhavik did today was remarkable," said Watney. "He was running out of gas down the stretch because he wasn't able to eat anything, but he really played some great golf. It's too bad he's not at 100 percent because he'll be playing in a talented feature foursome tomorrow and that should be something to see. I'm hopeful he can get some food down and some rest tonight to get ready for tomorrow."
Reigning WAC Player of the Year Grant Doverspike (70-69--139) had nine birdies through the first two rounds and stands at 3-under par and tied for 10th place in the 14-team tournament.
Bryan Hogan put together an excellent round of 67 (4-under par) in the second round and he is tied for 18th place at 2-under for the tournament.
Michael Gideon (72-72--144) is tied for 42nd and Adam Barkow (73-76--149) is tied 58th heading into the final round.
The Bulldogs were in seventh place after the morning round with a score of 284, 15 shots behind Cal. The tournament concludes Tuesday morning with an 18-hole shotgun start.
"For our first completion in about three months, I'm pretty darned pleased," said Watney. "We struggled a little early and made some bogeys getting out of the blocks, but we played very, very good in the second round. I'd say the only drawback today was our putting. We could be very close to Cal if we putted even decently well. The greens are darned good, too, so that's frustrating. Michael Gideon is hitting it fantastic but he's not getting the payoff because of poor putting. We are happy to be in the feature foursome heading into tomorrow. We are playing with some very good teams and that's exciting stuff."
For complete results and to following the tournament via live scoring www.golfstat.com .
"We are Your Team" The Bulldog men's golf team concludes the final round of the Ping Arizona Intercollegiate on Tuesday, Feb. 2, in Tucson, Ariz. Follow gobulldogs.com for more information.
