PALM BEACH, Fla. – Jacksonville University men's golf has two players in the top-five of the leaderboard and holds the 36-hole lead at The Southern Invitational after day one action on Monday.
Joseph Sullivan shot a second round 69 at The Falls Club to move into third place and
Alexandre Vandermoten is T4 with one round to play.
Sullivan opened his day with a birdie, a harbinger of good things to come. After giving back a stroke on the Par-5 8th, he recovered with a birdie on the very next hole. From there, he rattled off 12 consecutive pars to close his first round with a 1-under 71.
The only blemishes in his second round came on his first and last holes, as he was immaculate, and sometimes even more than that throughout the other 16. He got the best of the same Par-5 8th, eagling it the second time through, and dropping in three birdies in the stretch of holes of par-or-better. He registered his third round under 70 this season and 10th of his career. His 3-under scoring on Par-4s in good enough to lead the field on such holes and his 27 total pars is also the most so far.
Vandermoten also scored a birdie on his first hole of the day, and turned in a steady first round to match Sullivan's 71. He parred the next six holes after the opening red number and sank his second birdie of the day on the 8th. He gave back two strokes on two of his next four holes, but rallied with a third birdie of the round on the Par-5 13th, making par on five straight to close out his first 18.
The afternoon was a bit more of a roller coaster, but the redshirt-junior ended the day with a bang. He again birdied hole one, but had bogeys on two of his next four. He closed out the front nine with a pair of birdies and pars. The back began tough, and he was 2-over for the round as he approached the 16th. He finished on a heater, birdieing each of the last three holes of the round to end the day 2-under and in the top five. He shot 5-under on Par-5s, tied for second in the field and made nine total birdies to lead JU and is tied for fourth overall.
Filip Raza returned to the lineup and is just outside of the top-10, sitting T11 through two rounds. It took him a bit to get into a rhythm, but starting with four straight pars on holes 7-10, he made birdie on three of the next five, and closed the first round with two pars in his last three holes for a 72. He bogeyed his first two holes of the second round before heating up again, burying four birdies over a stretch of 11 holes of par-or-better golf. He concluded his day with three pars in the last six holes. He shot even-par on Par-3s to lead the team and is tied for sixth overall on the short holes.
James Dulin settled in by the middle of his first round, highlighted by a stretch of eight holes in which he birdied two and made par on all but one of the others. He hit his stride during the second round birdieing his last hole of his first nine, and following that with two straight pars and another birdie. He closed the day with three pars and two more red numbers over his last five holes of the afternoon for a second round 73.
Daniel Montalvo started his day throwing darts, as he birdied four holes in his first round and shot an even-par 72. He followed that with a 12-par second round, where he added his fifth birdie of the day, and closed the round with his second five-consecutive par stretch.
JU was best in the field in Par-3 scoring and second in both Par-4 and Par-5 scoring, shooting a blistering 12-under as a team on the longest holes of the course. The Dolphins also led the field with 110 total pars through the first two rounds.
Final round action starts with tee times off of hole one tomorrow morning, beginning with Montalvo at 8:35 a.m.
