EMCC - Athletics: Sports, News, Players, and Coaches. Go Lions! - EMCC tandem shoots improved second-round scores in NJCAA Division II Golf Championship

SCOTTSBORO, Ala. – East Mississippi Community College’s Weston Wallace and Zack Bailey both cut seven strokes off their opening-round scores during Wednesday’s second round of the 2011 NJCAA Division II Men’s Golf Championship being played at Goose Pond Colony.

Wallace, this year’s Hubert Tucker Award recipient for having the MACJC’s best composite scoring average during the regular season, sits in a tie for 72^nd place after following Tuesday’s opening-round 81 with a 2-over-par 74 during second-round action on Wednesday. With his two-day total of 155, the former Northwest Rankin High School standout entered Thursday’s third day of competition tied with seven other golfers.

Bailey, a product of Caledonia High School, bettered his first-round 84 by carding a 5-over-par 77 during Wednesday’s second-round play. Having earned his appearance in this year’s national championship as an NJCAA All-Region 23 selection, Bailey began Thursday’s third round in 108^th place with a two-day score of 161 for head coach Dale Peay’s EMCC Lions.

In the team competition, John A. Logan College (Ill.), last year’s NJCAA Division II runner-up, holds a three-stroke advantage (577-580) over Mesa (Ariz.) Community College midway through this year’s championship. Individually, John A. Logan’s Derek Rohlfing owns a slim one-stroke lead over a trio of competitors with a 4-under-par 140 (74-66).

Within the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC), four-time defending NJCAA Region 23 champion Mississippi Gulf Coast stood 12^th after two rounds with a total score of 601 (306-295). Along with MGCCC having four golfers placed within the top 63 positions midway through the tournament, Austin Holt of Northeast Mississippi CC was tied for 80^thplace (76-80—156). In addition, Copiah-Lincoln’s Bennett Ruschewski (77-80) and Keaton Stamps (82-75) were tied with six other players in 86^th place with two-day scores of 157.

With 19 full teams and 127 total players competing this week at the 7,100-yard, par-72 layout, the NJCAA Division II Golf Nationals will continue with third-day action on Thursday and final-round play set for Friday at Goose Pond Colony. Daily results from this week’s tournament are available online at www.mccaa.org/divIIgolfnat.htm.