GOLF | Saint Mary's in First After Two Rounds at Nick Watney

FRESNO, Calif. — Saint Mary's leads all teams after two rounds at the Nick Watney Invitational hosted at Sunnyside Golf Course and heads into Tuesday's final round with a 1-stroke lead over second-place Loyola Marymount.

LEADERBOARD
The Gaels were 3-under as a team in the first round and then shot 15-under during the middle round to leapfrog two spots into first place. SMC is one up on LMU, two strokes ahead of BYU, and then has a considerable 10-stroke advantage over fourth place Pacific. A total of nine teams are competing in the event.

Saint Mary's success on the first day of the Invitational can be credited to strong play throughout the lineup. Of the 49 competitors, four Gaels finished in the top-10 and all six members of the team, including individual Michael Slesinski, currently reside in the top half of the leaderboard.

Leading the charge for head coach Scott Hardy's club was senior Blake Hathcoat who is 5-under across 36 holes. Hathcoat is tied for sixth on the medalist leaderboard going into Tuesday.

His teammates Ethan Ashbrook, Dylan VanderVeer, and Evan Peterson are all just a stroke behind and are tied for ninth. Ethan Farnam is right in the mix as well at 2-under and Slesinski is at 1-under.

LMU's Gavin Cohen currently leads all players at 8-under. The full leaderboard can be seen here.

FIRST AND SECOND ROUND HIGHLIGHTS

Hathcoat did not have a single bogey in either round.
Slesinski finished his first round with five straight birdies from holes 5 to 9.
Farnam had four straight birdies from holes 12 to 15 in the second round and had seven total birdies during the round.
Ashbrook and VanderVeer also had seven birdies each during the middle round.
The Gaels shot a team-leading 18-under on par 5's today with VanderVeer leading the way at 5-under.
SMC also led all teams with a 6-under total on par 4's.
Hathcoat had more pars than any other competitor.

UP NEXT: FINAL ROUND

The Nick Watney Invitational concludes tomorrow with the third and final round. Teams begin play with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. Fans can follow the action live by clicking here.

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