ORLANDO — Davidson improved by six strokes to claim sole possession of first place in Saturday’s second round of the Atlantic 10 Golf Championship at the Villas of Grand Cypress.
Spurred by a sub-par round from Mike Blasey, the Wildcats shot a 294, six strokes better than their first-round 300. The two-day total of 594 gives Davidson an eight stroke lead over second place Dayton’s 602 (300-302). Rhode Island, which also had significant improvement over day one, is in third with a 605 (308-297). The Rams 11-stroke jump was the best improvement over the first round by any team.
Blasey’s even-par 144 (74-70) put him atop the leaderboard. His 70 Saturday was the only sub-par round on the difficult course. His teammate Alex Ross is also in the top five, placing third overall with a 147 (75-72). Four of Davidson’s five golfers improved their scores over Friday.
Rhode Island’s Brody King is in second place with a 145 (72-73), while Richmond’s Matthew Lowe and Alister Balcombe of VCU tied at fourth with a 148 to round out the top five finishers. Lowe posted a 73 Saturday, two strokes better than his Friday 75. Balcombe shot a 76 Saturday.
There were three Eagles on Saturday, all score on hole 11 by Josh Madarang (Fordham), Jason Short (Rhode Island) and Bobby Wiese (Rhode Island). Blasey has 10 birdies through the two rounds to lead the field, including five Saturday. VCU’s Stamper has eight birdies through 36 holes.
VCU is in fourth place with a 612 (303-309), followed by Richmond in fifth at 613 (304-309). George Mason (615-305-310), Saint Joseph’s (618-305-313) and Fordham (619-311-308) filled out sixth through eight respectively. George Washington, St. Bonaventure and La Salle were ninth through 11th.
The rest of the top 10 individual slots were filled by Domenic Maricocchi (Dayton), Tripp French (Dayton), and James Mongey (Fordham), who all tied for sixth with a 149, and Mason’s Eric Edwards and Davidson’s Hoke Carlton, who tied for ninth with a 150.
Final round tee times begin Sunday at 7:30 am with La Salle and St. Bonaventure in a twosome of No. 10 tee, and George Mason, Richmond and VCU off of No 1 tee. The other nine teams will play in threesomes. The final Sunday tee time is 8:51 am. The winner of the Atlantic 10 Championship will earn a bid to NCAA Regionals.