Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Alister MacKenzie Invitational
Patel's Dominant 2nd Round Leads 'Dogs
10/17/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Oct. 17, 2011
FRESNO, Calif. - In a field littered with top 100 ranked collegiate golfers, Bhavik Patel put on one of the best performances of his collegiate career during the second round of competition at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational to help put the Bulldogs in seventh place out of sixteen teams after the first day.
Patel shot the lowest round of his collegiate career and tied current PGA star Nick Watney and Todd Angel for the lowest round during Coach Mike Watney's 34 years at Fresno State with an 8-under, 63 during the second round.
"The 63 is very, very special," Coach Watney said. "He just played very solid golf to produce such an incredible performance."
Patel, a senior from Bakersfield, Calif., opened up the tournament with a 1-under, 70 to put him in a tie for 27th after 18 holes. After sinking back-to-back birdies on holes nine and 10, his first two holes of the second round, Patel followed it with four straight birdies on holes 13 through 16.
Patel made the turn at 18 with a 5-under, 31 and promptly made birdie on the 492-yard, par-5 first hole. He knocked in his eighth and final birdie of the round on the par-4 sixth and parred his final two holes to shoot a bogey-free round, putting him in a tie for fourth place at 9-under (70-63--133) going into the final day of competition Tuesday.
Junior Rufie Fessler carded a 3-under, 68 during the second round to move him up 23 positions into a tie for 38th (74-68--142, E). Fessler drilled back-to-back-to-back birdies on the front nine during the final round of the day, giving him a total of nine Monday.
Freshman Keenan Nelson also sits in a tie for 38th at even-par (72-70--142). After going bogey, double-bogey, Nelson finished the second round by shooting three birdies and no bogeys over the final 12 holes to record the first under-par round of his collegiate career.
Nate Jessup, a sophomore from Springville, Calif., stroked a 3-under, 68 during the first round and finished the day in a tie for 62nd at 4-over (68-78--146).
Macgregor Hoobery, playing in his first collegiate tournament, made 14 straight pars during the second round and sits in a tie for 77th at 10-over.
The 'Dogs as a team shot a 10-under (284-274--558) at the 6,718-yard, par-71 Meadow Club in Fairfax, Calif. They are only one shot behind Colorado and BYU who are tied for fifth at 11-under.
No. 2 Oregon holds the team lead at 30-under, followed by host No. 19 Cal at 28-under and No. 23 San Diego State and San Francisco at 24-under.
No. 11 Eugene Wong of Oregon sits in the individual lead at 14-under (65-63--128) with UC Irvine's Pete Fernandez (64-68--132) and Cal's Max Homa (66-66--132) four shots back at 10-under.
The Bulldogs will return to action Tuesday to compete in the final round of the Alister MacKenzie Invitational with tee times starting at 7:45 a.m. PT.
"We Are Your Team!" - Follow live scoring of the final round of the Alister MacKenzie Invitational at Golfstat.com and visit gobulldogs.com for the final results.
Players Mentioned
