Blazer Golfers Trim Stroke At Hitchcock

Friday, April 7

Auburn, Ala.

All Day

UAB

Billy Hitchcock Intercollegiate

Senior Clark Brown shot 76 on Saturday. Photo by Steve Wood.

Blazer Golfers Trim Stroke At Hitchcock

4/8/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf

April 8, 2006

AUBURN, Ala. -- Three of UAB's five competitors improved their scores from round one two round two Saturday at the 19th Annual Billy Hitchcock Invitational hosted by Auburn University. UAB stands tied for eighth place in the field, but is just eight strokes from the top five with one round to play.

Junior Garrett Osborn is tied for 15th after knocking a shot off his opening round, two-over par 74 on Saturday. Josh Thompson equaled his first round 75 and is tied for 26th on the leaderboard.

"We got marginally better, but marginally better dropped us in the team standings," UAB head coach Alan Kaufman said. "Against a field like this, you have to be significantly better from round to round to improve your standing. We've got some ground to make up, but we're very capable of doing just that."

The Blazers were tied for seventh in the 12-team field after Friday's first round. The squad's 303-302 rounds for a 604 total is tied with Mississippi State for eighth place overall after 36 holes. Host Auburn blistered the par-72, 7,275-yard Auburn University Club course for a second round 77. The Tigers are nine under par as a team for the event at 567. Charlotte is a seemingly distant second with a 581 36-hole score. Ole Miss (592), Southeastern Louisiana (594), Memphis and North Florida (597) round out the top five with the Tigers and Ospreys tied for fifth.  Mercer stands in seventh place just two shots better than UAB.

Clark Brown trimmed one shot off his first round score to card a four-over 76 Saturday. He stands tied for 38th overall in the 63-man field. Kaylor Timmons went from 80 to 78 from Friday to Saturday. Kyle Sapp shot 84 for the Blazers in the second round of action.

Auburn's Stuart Moore shot an eight-under 64 on Saturday and is eight-under for the tournament and in the lead for individual medalist honors with a 136. Memphis's Ian Rochester (141) is in second place while Auburns Andrew Medley, the first-round leader, dropped off with a one-over 73 Saturday. He stands third with a 143. That trio comprises the only individuals under par for the tournament.

Sunday marks the third and final round of the three-day, 54-hole event. The tournament is the final regular season tune up for UAB before taking on the field at the Conference USA Championships April 17-19 in Gulfport, Miss.

Live scoring for Sunday's final round can be found online at www.bamagolf.com.