Printer-Friendly Format     E-mail this article     Junior Josh Sandman carded four birdies and finished with a four-over par 75, rising to a tie for 91st place after Friday's second round at the NCAA Central Regional in Columbus, Ohio.

Notre Dame junior is currently nine strokes off cutline for individual advancement to NCAA finals.

May 16, 2008

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Junior Josh Sandman (Greensboro, N.C./Southeast Guilford) bounced back from a difficult first round with a better second-round effort, carding a four-over par 75 (and a two-round score of 154, +12) and rising 15 spots into a tie for 91st place on Friday at the NCAA Central Regional in Columbus, Ohio.

The damp, windy conditions and the rugged Ohio State Scarlet Course (par 71/7,419 yards) have taken their toll on the 141-man field, with only two players under par through 36 holes. Oklahoma State's Kevin Tway (son of 1986 PGA Championship winner Bob Tway) leads the field at three-under par 139, two shots better than first-round leader Brendan Gielow of Wake Forest.

The top two individual finishers at this week's NCAA Central Regional who are not on one of the top 10 advancing teams will earn individual berths to the NCAA Championship finals May 28-31 in West Lafayette, Ind. If the regional ended Friday, the cutline for the top two individual qualifiers would be at three-over par 145, nine shots ahead of Sandman, who is the first Notre Dame golfer ever to be chosen as an individual participant for NCAA regional play.

Sandman chalked up four birdies during Friday's second round, including a pair on the back nine which he covered in one-over par 36. He also stayed largely clear of the black numbers that marred his scorecard on Thursday, taking just one double bogey on the day at the par-4 11th hole.

Sandman returns to action Saturday at 9:02 a.m. (ET), starting from the No. 10 tee in the third and final round of the NCAA Central Regional. Live scoring for the tournament is available via the Golfstat web site (www.golfstat.com) and complete results also will be posted right here on the official Notre Dame athletics web site (UND.com) and the Notre Dame Sports Hotline (574-631-3000) at the conclusion of Saturday's action.

TOP SEVEN INDIVIDUALS PLUS NOTRE DAME FINISHERS (of 141): 1. Kevin Tway (Oklahoma State) 139 (70-69); 2. Brendan Gielow (Wake Forest) 141 (69-72); 3. Dustin Groves (Wake Forest) 142 (72-70); 4. Webb Simpson (Wake Forest) 143 (72-71); 5. (tie) Jorge Campillo (Indiana) 144 (71-73), Mark Harrell (Alabama) 144 (70-74) and Jessie Massie (Eastern Kentucky) 144 (73-71); 91. (tie) Josh Sandman (ND)* 154 (79-75).
* - indicates individual participant