No. 3 Owens Men's Golf Shoots 307, Sits In Third Place At National Tournament

Dru Hein, pictured here, shot a 78 in today's third round of the national tournament. It was his lowest round of the tournament. Photo by Owens Sports Information
Dru Hein, pictured here, shot a 78 in today's third round of the national tournament. It was his lowest round of the tournament. Photo by Owens Sports Information
Posted: May 22, 2014

By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

Plymouth, Ind.---The No. 3 Owens Community College men's golf team took a small step backwards in today's third round of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II National Tournament, but remain alive in the chase for a national championship.

Tomorrow's fourth and final round will determine this year's national champion. Owens finished 10th last year and should, at the very least, vastly improve on that finish tomorrow.

Brandon Hoelzer (Fremont Ross/Fremont, Ohio) and Harrison Long (Wilnecote/Tamworth, U.K.) each shot a 76 to lead Owens, while Philippe Weppernig (Luzern, Switzerland) shot a 77 and Dru Hein (Jasper/Jasper, Ind.) shot a 78. Kirby Manown (Belle Vernon/Belle Vernon, Penn.) rounded out the lineup with an 83.

Hein's 78 was his best round of the tournament. He had previously shot an 82 and an 83.

Hoelzer's three round total of 222 has him six over for the tournament and tied for seventh place individually, while Long and Weppernig each have a three round total of 224. They are both tied for 13th place. Manown (237) and Hein (243) are tied for 61st and 81st, respectively.

No. 2 Walters State (Tenn.) Community College, who had a two stroke lead in the tournament heading into today's third round, shot a 288 in the third round. They remain in first with an 881 (+17). Mesa (Ariz.) Community College shot a 302 today and is at 897 (+33) in second place.

Owens is just behind those two in third place at 902 overall (+38) after their 307 today. Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College shot a 301 today and is at 904 (+40 overall). Blackhawk (Ill.) College is at 914 (+50) through three rounds and is in fifth place.

Tanner McKinney of Mineral Area Community College has a three-round total of 214 (-2) and is in first place individually. Therefore, Hoelzer will enter the final round eight strokes behind him, while Long and Weppernig are each 10 shots behind him.

Notes

Owens should have close to the same tee times tomorrow that they had today, so we should be able to update you around the same time tomorrow on where Owens finishes. 

Stay tuned to our Twitter account (@owensexpress) for the most live, up-to-date results tomorrow.