Manuel Girona and Blake Dyer both slipped in eagles during a busy Round 2 in Palo Alto, California, in Stanford’s The Goodwin tournament.
Florida moved up five spots on the leaderboard into sixth place after a 284 (four-over) second round led by sophomore Chris Nido. Nido, who shot even par in Round 1, improved on his first day score by carding a two-under. Nido currently sits at third place on the leaderboard after tallying five birdies on the round.
Senior Gordon Neale and redshirt junior Blake Dyer trailed close behind as each carded a one-over. Neale had an inconsistent day notching five birdies and six bogies, three on the front nine and three on the back. He had a similar Round 1 where he struggled early but notched four birdies in the final nine holes. Neale is tied for 15th on the tournament.
Dyer’s eagle on the first hole carried his score throughout the day as he struggled to maintain that same success on the front nine with three bogeys. He added another two on the back nine but birdied twice, leading to his one-over finish.
Florida’s No. 1 golfer John Axelsen posted the second worst score on the day with a five bogey three-over performance. Axelsen sits tied for 60th at seven over on the tournament.
Despite Girona’s eagle on the 16th hole, he still sits at a team-worst 12-over due to his slow first-round start where he shot seven over. The sophomore notched six bogeys along with a triple bogey and just one birdie to go with his eagle today, resulting in a five-over performance.
Florida trails host Stanford, who currently sits at two-under for the tournament with a comfortable seven-stroke first place lead, followed behind by Southern California, California, Oklahoma and Washington. The Gators still have a lot of room for improvement if they’re to break through into the top five, trailing the fifth-place Huskies by five strokes.
Follow Victor Prieto on Twitter @victorprieto_11 and contact him at vprieto@alligator.org.
Senior Gordon Neale is tied for 15th in The Goodwin tournament.
