MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. – Despite making a two-stroke improvement in Tuesday's second round, Tom Forster (Oundle, England) moved down one spot into a tie for 70th, now sitting at +8 through 36 holes at the NCAA Division II Men's Golf Championships Finals.
Forster, who was named to PING's All-Southeast Region team on Tuesday, was three-over in the second round with a 75. He now holds a 152 total heading into the final round of play.
"Bunker play was terrible," Forster mentioned. "I also got a two-shot penalty in a bunker and, overall, dropped nine shots in bunkers, including the penalty shots, so that's just unacceptable.
"But I putted better and that saved me a bit."
The sophomore shot for par on all but one of the holes he faced in the back-nine, shooting for bogey on the 11th before seven straight pars set him at +1 heading into the late afternoon turn. He improved his game in the back half of the course by three strokes between the first two rounds.
A triple bogey on hole one started the front nine on a sour note, forcing him to battle back in the subsequent eight holes. Forster did just that, carding a birdie on the second hole before scoring a pair of bogeys and pair of birdies later on, pushing him two-shots over par in the frame.
"Another round with a big number for Tom," head coach Randy Wylie said. "Must avoid that one big disaster tomorrow. We need an under par score tomorrow to have a solid finish."
He has shot for par on 23 holes in the event with five birdies. He still remains towards the lower part of the pack in terms of par 3 scoring with a 3.50 average, improving to +4 on such holes. He has moved down to +2 on par 4s and 5s.
Barry's Jorge Garcia moved into first place thanks to a nine-under performance on Tuesday, helping him to become 11-under through two rounds. Florida Southern's John VanDerLaan slid down into second place following a four-under round. He is one stroke out of the lead while Saint Leo's Oliver Lillliedahl sits in third at nine-under.
Jumping four spots into the lead of the team leaderboard was No. 3 Barry after an excellent sixteen-under showing on Tuesday, moving the team to -18 for the event. No. 1 West Florida moved down into second after shooting six-under, three shots out of first. No. 2 Florida Southern remains at third heading into Wednesday at 12-under.
The final day of the 54-hole tournament comes on Wednesday before team match play begins. Forster will hit the links around 7:53 a.m. CT with updates coming throughout the day from Golfstat.