Oregon’s Aaron Wise, Vanderbilt lead NCAA golf

EUGENE – Oregon’s Aaron Wise shot a 6-under 64 on Sunday at Eugene Country Club to take the individual NCAA lead, while Vanderbilt remained atop the team standings.

“To do it out here, with the greens rolling 13 (on the Stimpmeter) and the rough up, is pretty special,” said Wise, a sophomore from Lake Elsinore, California.

Wise had four straight back-nine birdies to reach 6-under 204 with one round left.

“Aaron’s special,” Oregon coach Casey Martin said. “We’ve said it a lot, but he proved it today on a big stage.”

Vanderbilt’s Matthias Schwab was two strokes back after a 67. Texas’ Beau Hossler (67) was 3 under, and Arizona State’s Jon Rahm (69), Alabama’s Robby Shelton (72), Southern California’s Rico Hoey (69) and TCU’s Paul Barjon (69) were 2 under.

Vanderbilt shot a 2-over 282 – with only the best four of the five players’ scores counting in the team total – to reach 5-over 845. Carson Jacobs followed Schwab with a 70.

The field was cut to the top 15 teams after the round, with Louisville and Oklahoma edging TCU, Clemson and Georgia on tiebreakers for the final spots. On Monday, the individual champion will be crowned and the top eight teams will advance to match play.

Texas had a 277 – the best score of the day – to jump from fifth to second at 7 over. Defending champion LSU and Southern California were 10 over, followed by Oregon at 12 over, Arkansas at 15 over, Arizona State at 17 over, California at 18 over, and Oklahoma State and Illinois at 19 over.

“We’re where we need to be,” Martin said. “We could have been even better, obviously, but it is what it is. I think we’ll be ready, and the guys that struggled today will be ready to come back tomorrow.”