SEASIDE, Calif. -- A pair of solid even-par rounds by Alex Bungert helped the Saint Mary's golf team land in second after 36 holes of the Saint Mary's Invitational at Bayonet and Black Horse Golf Course on Monday.
Cal leads the team competition after shooting a combined 6-under 570 (288/282). Saint Mary's posted a score of 294 on both the Bayonet and Black Horse courses, finishing with a total of 588. San Francisco and St. John's each sit one shot back of the Gaels at 589, with Oregon rounding out the top five at 590.
On the individual side, Bungert is Saint Mary's highest-placed golfer going into the final round after posting a pair of 72s to finish at even-par 144. He was one of just 10 golfers to finish at even-par or better, and enters day two in a tie for ninth as Cal's Michael Weaver and San Diego's Grant Forrest are tied atop the leaderboard after posting a 4-under 140.
Playing the Bayonet course first, Saint Mary's started well under postcard-quality weather of sunny skies and a light breeze. Bungert and Dalan Refioglu led the way on the first 18, each firing rounds of even par. Cody Robinson and Tye Gabriel each carded 3-over, and Maclayne Marr posted 7-over to finish the scoring.
As the morning turned to afternoon, the Gaels shifted their attention to the Black Horse course. Bungert had more of an up and down round, carding five birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey. By the end though, he sat at even-par yet again.
Marr enjoyed the biggest turnaround from round one to round two, improving seven strokes to finish his second 18 with an even-par 72. Gabriel improved two strokes to finish at 1-over, while Refioglu and Robinson each shot 5-over to end the day.
Also competing as individuals on Monday was a trio of Gaels golfers. Senior Nick Sako finished strong, carding a 1-under 71 on the Black Horse course to finish at 6-over 150 for the day. Jay Pinkos finished the day at 153 (9-over), while freshman Hunter Rappleye posted a plus-11 155 in his first collegiate tournament.
"We played Bayonet, which is the harder course, pretty good. 6-over is a good score over there. Going over to Black Horse, 6-over is not a good score over there," Saint Mary's coach Scott Hardy said. "We were 3-over for the day with about 14 holes to play and we ended up 12-over, so the finish wasn't great. I don't know if you can blame it on getting tired or what, but everyone has to make the same walk. We just need to finish better and hopefully we come out tomorrow and do that, at the end of the round play well. That's how it always is in golf. If you finish well, you feel like you played well."
The Gaels return to the course on Tuesday morning for the conclusion of the tournament. Play begins at 8 a.m., with live stats available through SMCGaels.com or Golfstat.com. Up to date pairings can be found at Golfstat.com as well.
