Perico Keeps Lead; Razorbacks T6
FRANKLIN, Tenn. – Julian Perico opened with an eagle and closed with back-to-back birdies to stay atop the individual leaderboard with a two-day score of 130 (-12) at the Vanderbilt Legends Collegiate, played at the VU Legends Club (par 71, 7,221 yards). Arkansas posted a 4-under-par team score and is tied for sixth with a 36-ole total of 552 (-16).
Perico is tied with Vanderbilt’s Matthew Riedel for the lead, each sitting at 12-under (130) through two rounds. Vanderbilt also leads the team competition after an impressive 19-under-par round Tuesday and is -32 for the event. Second-place Texas A&M is 10 shots in arrears at -22, followed by Georgia (-21), Florida (-18) and LSU (-17) with Arkansas and Tennessee sharing sixth at -16.
Perico, who closed round one Monday with an eagle, opened day two with another eagle on the 417-yard, par-4 first hole. After his drive, the junior was 131 yards out and he holed out from the fairway with a nine iron. Perico is the only player in the field with two eagles through 36 holes.
He made the turn at 1-under with bogeys on holes 6 and 9 and a birdie on hole 7. He played bogey-free on the inward nine with four birdies, including back-to-back birdies to close his round and stand as co-leader (64-66=130/-12)
Segundo Oliva Pinto was 2-under in round two and is tied for 16th (68-69=137/-5). He started the day with back-to-back birdies. He then offset three bogeys with three birdies over the last 12 holes for his round of 69. Oliva Pinto has 12 birdies after 36 holes to lead the Razorbacks and have the third-best total in the field.
Manuel Lozada and Denver Davis lead Arkansas, each with 24 pars through 36 holes – the third-best total in the field. Lozada had 16 pars, two bogeys and a birdie (on his final hole) to stand in a tie for 39th with an even-par total of 142 (70-72). Davis was 4-over through 13 holes Tuesday but rallied with birdies on holes 15 and 18 for a 2-over score of 73. He is one shot behind Lozada and tied for 45th (70-73=143/+1).
Like yesterday, Mason Overstreet had a slow start, sitting at +5 through 12 holes, only to right the ship and close with birdies on holes 14, 16 and 17 for a 2-over-par 73/ He is tied for 55th (72-73=145/=3).
The third and final round is set for Tuesday. The Razorbacks will tee off on hole one at 9:20 am, starting with Overstreet, followed by Davis (9:30 am), Lozada (9:40 am), Oliva Pinto (9:50 am) and Perico (10:00 am).
