GREENSBORO — The Georgia men’s golf team and freshman Davis Thompson maintained their positions atop the leaderboards on Monday in the 13th annual Linger Longer Invitational.
In the second round at Reynolds Lake Oconee on the Great Waters course (par-72, 7,073 yards), the Bulldogs fired a 2-under 286. That moved Georgia to 18-under 558 for the tournament -- one shot ahead of Alabama (559) and nine clear of Penn State (567).
Thompson signed for a 3-under 69 to improve to 12-under 132. Thompson registered four birdies and a bogey on Monday and now has 13 birdies and the bogey for the tournament. The freshman from Auburn, Ala., is three shots ahead of Alabama’s Lee Hodges (135).
Sophomores Trevor Phillips and Spencer Ralston each posted even-par 72s in the second round and senior Zach Healy signed for a 1-over 73. Freshman John Hilliard Catanzaro had Georgia’s non-counting score of 9-over 81.
Ralston -- who closed with an eagle on the par-5, 540-yard 18th Monday -- remained in the hunt with Thompson for medalist honors as he stands third at 7-under 137. Phillips is 13th at 2-under 142, followed by Healy at 3-over 147 and Catanzaro at 14-over 158.
“It’s nice being in this position, being in the hunt again,” Georgia head coach Chris Haack said. “We’re embracing the competition of sort of slugging it out with Alabama. I think that’s good for both of us as the postseason gets closer and closer. We’ve got an important third round ahead of us on Tuesday, and I’m confident that our guys will do everything they can to hopefully get us out of here with a trophy. It’s been a good couple of days and we just need to finish it out strong.”
Playing as individuals, junior Davis Mackey and sophomore Will Chandler each landed at 1-over 73, while junior Jack Larkin Jr. had a 5-over 77. Mackey stands 19th at 1-over 143, Chandler moved to 1-over 145 and Larkin is at 5-over 149.
The Linger Longer Invitational will conclude on Tuesday. The Bulldogs are scheduled to tee off in 10-minute increments between 10:10 and 10:50 a.m.
