LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Abilene Christian men's golf rose three spots from the first round to the second to land in seventh place after the first day of the Everett Buick GMC Classic on Monday. The Wildcats shot under par in both rounds at Chenal Country Club, carding a 1-under 287 in the first round before a 5-under 283 in the second.
Preston Cooper fueled ACU in a tie for 16th place at 3-under 141, while
Jack Hollingsed and
Thomas Buisson joined him under par at 1-under 143, tying for 29th. The Wildcats shot 6-under 570 as host Little Rock led the 16-team field at 23-under 553. ACU is six strokes behind Southern Miss and Lipscomb, tied for second place at 12-under 564. Lipscomb's Minas Manias topped the individual leaderboard at 11-under 133.
Each ACU golfer tees off at 8:15 a.m. on Tuesday morning.
ACU recorded the fourth-most birdies in the field with 44 and tied for fourth on par-5 holes at 22-under. Each Wildcat birdied the par-5 No. 9 in both rounds.
Cooper followed a 1-under 71 first round with a 2-under 70 in the second round. He totaled nine birdies, including three on the front nine of the second round. Cooper tied for ninth in the field with 23 pars. The Dallas native is coming off a 1-under 215 showing at the Trinity Forest Invitational, competing as an individual.
Hollingsed and Buisson matched each other in shooting 1-over 73 in the first round and 2-under 70 in the second. Hollingsed tallied 11 birdies, tied for fifth in the field, and drew for fifth on par 5s at 7-under. Buisson tied for eighth on par 5s at 6-under while collecting 10 birdies. He finished both rounds on a strong note, carding birdies on four of his last five holes in the first round and on three of his last four in the second round.
Tres Hill followed in a tie for 38th place at 1-over 145. He shot even-par 72 to get started before a 1-over 73 in the second round. He earned seven birdies, with his day headlined with a 3-under 33 in the first round's front nine.
Preston DeFriend rounded out the Wildcats in a tie for 83rd at 12-over 156. After a 1-under 71 first round, he shot 13-over 85 in the second. Six of his seven birdies on the day came in the first round, including five over a span of six holes.
