(Editor's note: MSUB Athletics release)
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Soaring up the leaderboard in Round 2 of the NCAA D2 Men’s Golf Championships on Tuesday at the PGA National Resort, Montana State University Billings senior Garrett Woodin climbed into a tie for 30th place.
After posting a 79 in Round 1 on Monday, Woodin improved by three strokes with a 4-over-par 76 on Tuesday on the par-72, 7,051-yard course layout. “I felt like I played better than yesterday, but still left quite a few shots out there,” said Woodin. “This has been an unbelievable experience and I am having so much fun playing and learning this style of golf. My goal is just to keep going through my round with the same plan and just execute better tomorrow.”
Woodin climbed into the upper half among the field of 84 players at the event, with the final round of his collegiate career before him on Wednesday morning. “It was another solid round today,” said MSUB head coach Jeff Allen. “Anytime you can move up the leaderboard at an event like this, it is a sign of a good day. He hit a lot of great shots out there, he’s in a great place mentally, and he’s just having a lot of fun. Tomorrow I expect to see even more improvement on the little things and another good round of golf.”
Woodin limited his mistakes on Tuesday, carding nothing worse than a bogey throughout his round. He got off to a strong start, making par on his first three holes on his way to a 2-under-par 34 on the front-nine. That included three birdies during a four-hole stretch from holes six through nine.
The Billings native’s strong play included stellar approach shots, as he created high-percentage birdie tries on Hole 6 and Hole 8 leaving himself a pair of five-foot putts. He then made a dramatic 15-footer on Hole 9, watching as his ball hung on the lip of the cup momentarily before dropping to complete his front-nine 34.
Navigating difficult playing conditions created by a constant wind, Woodin managed the back-nine with another birdie on the par-4, 46-5yard 14th hole and posting a 6-over-par 42 to finish out the day. Woodin’s respectable round was 19th-best against the entire field of players on a day that proved more challenging than Monday’s opening round.
Keegan Bronnenberg of Indianapolis shot a 3-under-par 69 on Tuesday and is tied with Oliver Lewis-Perkins of Lee University for first place each with a two-round score of 145. Indianapolis soared to the top of the team leaderboard with a two-round score of 587, and it holds a 16-stroke lead over second-place West Florida.
TOMORROW: The final round kicks off on Wednesday morning, with the 2021 individual champion to be crowned by the end of the day. Woodin is scheduled to tee off at 8:58 a.m. Eastern time and live results will be available online here [results.golfstat.com].
ABOUT THE CHAMPIONSHIPS: Woodin qualified for the NCAA Championships by finishing in third place at last week’s NCAA West/South Central Regional Championships as he was the top individual not on one of the four teams that advanced to the national tournament. In addition to being the first men’s golf representative at the championships, Woodin is the second overall MSUB golfer as he joins Kalli (Stanhope) Allen who made the NCAA Championships during her freshman year in the spring of 2008.
