POWELLS POINT, N.C. – North Dakota State men's golf climbed up the leaderboard on Monday at the ODU/OBX Intercollegiate Invitational, shooting the best round of the day at the Kilmarlic Golf Club.
The Bison fired a team score of 276 to match Georgetown for the best round of the day to climb to fifth overall after beginning the day in a tie for ninth in the 17-team field. NDSU's round of 276 is the third best round in program history behind a 272 in the same tournament in 2019 and a 274 at the Crusader Collegiate, also in the fall of 2019.
Leading the way for the Bison was
Ian Simonich, who fired a -3 round of 68 to fire a new collegiate best. The freshman shot a 70 earlier this season. Simonich carded four birdies in the round to climb from 30
th overall to a tie for 14
th heading into the final round.
After two pars to start the day, Simonich had a birdie, followed by five pars and another birdie to close the front nine. He would have two more birdies and six pars over the next eight holes before a bogey on the final hole.
Nate Adams, who was tied with Simonich to begin the day, and
Brock Winter each carded a -2 round of 69 to add to North Dakota State's -8 day. Like Simonich, Adams and Winter also had four birdies each in their round, helping the Bison to a total of 21 birdies on the day.
Wrapping up the scoring for the Bison in the round was
Gavin Cronkhite, who led NDSU with five birdies on the day. Cronkhite, like Simonich, reached -4 in his round after starting with four birdies and six pars through the first 10 holes. After a +4 stretch through five holes, Cronkhite had a birdie and two pars to close his round.
The Bison will return to the course on Tuesday for the third and final round. NDSU is set to begin teeing off at 7:45 a.m. CT/8:45 a.m. ET.
