JONESBORO, Ark. – An 18-stroke improvement on Monday afternoon has the East Texas A&M University men's golf team surge all the way to third place after the first two rounds of the Bubba Barnett Intercollegiate at the RidgePointe Country Club.
 
The Lions were in eighth place in the 12-team tournament after the morning round with a score of 301, but then shot a 283 in the second round to climb five spots to third place. Arkansas State leads its home tournament by nine strokes over UT Martin, who is 16 strokes ahead of the Lions.
 
Two individuals are in the top 10 for the Lions as Janis Erll (Lich, Germany) is tied for seventh place with a score of 142 (71-71), while Davis Seybert (Trinity Midland) is tied for ninth place with a score of 143 (73-70). Seybert made a 11-spot climb on the individual standings in the second round.
 
UT Martin's Luke Caldwell shot 137 through the first two rounds and is the individual leader by a stroke over Arkansas State's Thomas Schmidt.
 
Nicke Kaajavirta (Kajaani, Finland) rose 25 spots in the second round to tie for 21^st place going into the final round with a score of 147 (77-70). Matt Walters had a climb of 18 spots in the second round and is tied for 44^th place with a score of 152 (80-72), while Blake Taylor (Mansfield) is tied for 53^rd place with a score of 154 (80-74).
 
Competing as an individual this week, Cooper Watt (Rockford, Ill.) is tied for 24^th place with a score of 148 (74-74).
 
The final round of the Bubba Barnett Intercollegiate is set for a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Live scoring can be found HERE.
 

Pos.	Team	Round 1	Round 2	Total
1	Arkansas State	277	282	559
2	UT Martin	276	292	568
3	EAST TEXAS A&M	301	283	584
4	Murray State	300	285	585
5	Bellarmine	292	297	589
6	Evansville	302	289	591
7	Southeastern	298	295	593
8	New Orleans	300	296	596
9	Central Arkansas	302	295	597
10	Oklahoma Christian	304	295	599
11	Lindenwood	296	307	603
12	Tennessee State	305	305	610

 

3	EAST TEXAS A&M	301	283	584
T7	Janis Erll	71	71	142
T9	Davis Seybert	73	70	143
T21	Nicke Kaajavirta	77	70	147
T44	Matt Walters	80	72	152
T53	Blake Taylor	80	74	154

 
INDIVIDUAL
T24 – Cooper Watt – 148 (74-74)