NINETY SIX, S.C. – Longwood men's golf powered forward to first place through two rounds of stroke play at the Big South Championship on Monday. Nick Rakes and Brendan Dunphy led the charge, but it was a full team effort to card a second-round 286 that went down as the best team score of the day.
 
SCORES:
The Patriot at Grand Harbor
Ninety Six, S.C.
Par 72, 7,054 Yards
 
1. Longwood: 293-286—579 (+3)
T2. Charleston Southern: 288-294—582 (+6)
T2. Radford: 296-286—582 (+6)
4. Winthrop: 289-298—586 (+10)
5. Campbell: 296-293—589 (+13)
6. Gardner-Webb: 299-295—594 (+18)
7. High Point: 293-306—599 (+23)
8. USC Upstate: 296-305—601 (+25)
9. Presbyterian: 299-309—608 (+32)
 
3. Nick Rakes: 71-71—142 (-2)
T7. Brendan Dunphy: 73-71—144 (E)
T14. Justin LaRue: 74-74—148 (+4)
T18. Daniel George: 75-74—149 (+5)
William Hoover: 78-SUB OUT (+6)
Scott Jordan: SUB IN-70 (-2)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
The entire team continued a strong spring that has seen them card top five finish after top five finish. Only this time, the team sits alone at the top of the leaderboard after 36 holes of golf with 18 left to play to determine who gets to advance to match play. The top four teams advance to match play.
 
Longwood fired off a solid 293 over the initial round, but the Lancers found a new level for round two. The team posted a 286, tied for the low round on the day with Radford, to climb from a tie for third into sole possession of first.
 
Rakes posted back-to-back rounds below par with matching 71s, and the junior is in sole possession of third among the 51-player field. In his first round, he closed with 14 holes at par or better, and he posted three birdies in his final nine holes in round two.
 
Meanwhile, Dunphy shaved a pair of strokes off his opening round score to finish the day at even par in a tie for seventh. In the opening round, he closed strong and made par or better on eight of his final nine holes for a 73. In round two, he made four birdies in his final 11 holes to post a 71 and climb up eight spots in the standings.
 
Scott Jordan came on as a substitute after round one, and the sophomore was sharp. Jordan posted the team's best round of the day with a 70. Much like his teammates, he closed the course well. In his final 12 holes, he notched four birdies and eight pars to finish two-under for the round.
 
Justin LaRue posted a pair of 74s to move up four spots into a tie for 14^th. He had a total of five birdies in his 36 holes of golf.
 
Daniel George carded a 75-74 in back-to-back rounds to also finish inside the top 20. He moved up six spots into a tie for 18^th after tallying three birdies in the second round.
 
William Hoover shot an opening round 78 for the Lancers.
 
WHAT THEY SAID:
 
"I thought we did a great job of staying present and controlling our emotions today, especially considering we did not get off to the start we wanted early on," said Longwood Head Coach Kevin Fillman. "Between the windy conditions and a number of really tough hole locations, the golf course played very difficultly. Over 36 holes, both just plain wear you out. We knew going in that, in order to be successful, we needed to keep a positive attitude and go be tougher than everybody else."
 
"Obviously our job is not done, and the goals we had coming in here remain the same," Fillman added. "Our gameplan will be to get back into the same type of mindset and go do it again tomorrow.
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
 
Longwood and Radford each scored a 286 as a team, which was the best team score by two strokes on the day.
 
The 286 was the best second-round score by seven full strokes.
 
Longwood was the best team in the field on Par 4s, averaging a 4.18 on such holes.
 
The Lancers were tied for second on both Par 3s and Par 5s as well.
 
Longwood led the field with 114 pars and was fourth with 29 birdies.
 
Rakes was tied for third in best average score on Par 4s (4.05).
 
Dunphy was one of five golfers to shoot an even par on Par 3s.
 
Rakes and LaRue were tied for the sixth-best score on Par 5s at 4.50.
 
Rakes and George tied for the team lead with 24 pars, which was tied for fifth in the field.
 
LaRue posted 23 pars, which was tied for eighth in the field, giving Longwood three players in the top 10 of the field in pars.
 
Dunphy was tied for fourth with eight birdies.
 
UP NEXT:
 
The final round of stroke play begins Wednesday morning. Teams tee off at 8 a.m. The top four teams advance to match play, with the winner of match play claiming the Big South Championship.
 
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