Vols need a stroke of genius to continue in NCAA golf

TOLEDO, Ohio — David Holmes’ main concern entering today’s third round of the NCAA golf championships isn’t the nasty weather that has been descending from the sky over northwest Ohio, nor is it the unusually high rough at Inverness Club. It’s not even about how the best player on his team has fallen into a funk.

Holmes, instead, wants to know whether the law of averages will cooperate for the University of Tennessee.

“We haven’t had a round this whole season where everybody has played their best, so we’re hoping tomorrow that will happen,” Holmes, a junior, said. “You’d think it would happen once in a season but it hasn’t.”

Frankly, it might need to happen for the Vols to extend their season. After shooting 5-over-par 289 Wednesday and running its two-day total to 15-over 583, ninth place Tennessee sits in a precarious position to qualify for the eight-team match play tournament beginning Friday and ending with Saturday’s national championship match. Play was suspended about 9 p.m. Wednesday due to darkness, the result of an earlier rain day.

“We just haven’t had all five (players) playing really good for one tournament,” UT coach Jim Kelson said. “But I have a lot of confidence we can go out and play a good round and get it done.”

For that to occur, two things likely must need to happen — Holmes continuing to play like a national title contender and No. 1 golfer Chris Paisley performing like the All-SEC caliber golfer he is. Holmes, a stalwart at West High School, shot even-par 70 and sits tied for ninth place at 1-under 141 for the tournament. Paisley, who finished in the top-15 of six tournaments this season, stands at 148 after shooting 73.

“He’s kind of struggled with his swing a little bit, but he said his game is close to getting back to where it was,” Holmes said. “Hopefully in tomorrow’s round everything will click because we need him.”

Tennessee’s other two scorers, Robin Wingardh and Darren Renwick, shot a 72 and a 73, respectively. Wingardh, who won a tournament here in September, is 3-over.

“I played pretty solid,” he said. “I had a little trouble making putts and made a few mistakes that cost me a lot of shots.”

Oklahoma State, at even par, owns a considerable edge to claim the No. 1 seed in the tournament over Georgia (5-over) and Texas A&M (6-over). Tennessee’s obvious competition to earn a berth includes eight-place Duke (13-over) and Central Florida, which is tied with the Vols.

“We’re probably going to have to have a good, solid round tomorrow to get in that top eight,” Holmes said. “We’re going to have to come out and be aggressive and get in there.”

Meanwhile, Holmes has a personal interest in today’s play. He will enter the round tied for ninth place, three strokes behind San Diego’s Alex Ching, who was leading the field at 6-under through 10 holes when play was stopped.

“When you’re only a few shots back you always feel like you can make a few birdies and get in there,” Holmes said.

Holmes was ready to tee off on hole 13 when play was suspended due to a threat of rain. Following a 4 hour, 30-minute delay, action resumed and the Vols began playing better, shaving three strokes off of their score.

“Maybe it was a good thing because we were struggling a bit,” Kelson said.

Ryan Autullo is a freelance contributor.