A day removed from a slow start in round one, Oregon men’s golf proved Saturday afternoon how significant its home-course advantage could be in the second round of NCAA Championships.
The Ducks shot three-under 277 as a team – the best overall team score through two rounds of stroke play. Only Oregon and Alabama (-1) shot under the par-70 Eugene Country Club course Saturday.
All five golfers in the Oregon lineup matched or shot better than their round one scores, but it was Edwin Yi who made the biggest impact.
The freshman shot two-under to move into a tie for sixth (-1) with the likes of top-10 golfers Jon Rahm of Arizona State and Lee McCoy of Georgia. Yi closed the back nine with three birdies and an eagle compared to two bogeys.
Wise maintained his even par standing and finished day two tied for 15th overall.
Sulman Raza made the biggest improvement for the Ducks, turning around a seven-over first round to shoot one-under 69 in round two. He birdied hole 9 – Oregon’s last hole of the round – to go move into a tie for 81st.
Thomas Lim shot even par in round two – a significant improvement from his five-over first round scorecard.
Zach Foushee’s one-over 71 didn’t count against the Ducks in the play-five, score-four championship format.
Vanderbilt (+3) shot even-par 280 and moved up two spots into first place. USC (+5), behind individual leader Justin Suh (-5), trails Vanderbilt by two strokes. Alabama’s Robby Shelton and San Diego State’s Nahum Mendoza III are tied for second at four-under through two rounds.
The Ducks will tee off at 7:22 a.m. Sunday morning one hole #1 with new pairings – fourth-place LSU and sixth-place Alabama.
Follow Will Denner on Twitter @Will_Denner