By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications, (503) 370-6110
HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla. -- Austin Davis (Sr., Culver City, CA/Culver City HS) from Willamette University shot 2-over par 74 in the third round of the 2022 NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championship on Thursday, May 12, as he ended the day in 10th place on the leaderboard at the Mission Inn Resort and Club. Davis finished the round at 291 overall. He shot a 72 in the first round and a 73 in the second round.
Davis' round included 2-over on the front nine, followed by even-par on the back nine. He registered two birdies and two bogeys over the first five holes on the back nine, then closed out the round with pars on each of the last four holes.
Andrew Chi of Methodist University (N.C.) moved into the lead with a 2-under 70 on Thursday, giving him an overall score of 2-under par 213 (73-70-70), as he climbed up three spots from a tie for fourth after 36 holes. JF Aber from Wittenberg University (Ohio) moved up from a tie for eighth into second place with a 3-under 69 to end the day at 214 (70-75-69).
Will Hocker from Webster University (Mo.), who was tied with Davis and Aber for eighth place entering the day, shot a 2-under 70 on Thursday to grab a tie for third place at 215 (71-74-70). Henry Angier, who led the tournament after Wednesday's round, carded a 2-over 74 on Thursday and was tied with Hocker for third at 215 (72-69-74).
The biggest move among the leaders in the third round was by Will Parker of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.). He recorded a tournament-low score of 68 to advance from a tie for 20th into a tie for fifth place at 216 (74-74-68). Also tied for fifth place was Nick Rubino of Hampden-Sydney College (Va.), who reached 216 with rounds of 71, 71, and 74.
Seventh place was held by Grant Gronka of Huntingdon College (Ala.) at 217 (69-73-75). Two golfers, Cole Jahnke from the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire and Scott Boyajian from Aurora University (Ill.), were tied for eighth place at 218. Jahnke has carded 72-74-72, while Boyajian has registered 75-69-74.
Davis followed in 10th at 219 (72-73-74). Trevor Elliott of Hampden-Sydney (74-74-72) and Cooper Hrabak from Methodist (70-75-75) shared 11th place at 220.
Methodist completed the third round at the top of the team standings with a score of 873 (292-289-292). The Monarchs owned a 12-stroke advantage over Huntingdon and Hampden-Sydney, as both finished the day in second at 885. Huntingdon shot 287-306-294, while Hampden-Sydney carded 296-293-296. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps was fourth at 886 (295-303-288) and Carnegie Mellon University (Pa.) was fifth at 891 (288-299-304)
Willamette did not compete as a team on Thursday after barely missing the cut by one stroke on Wednesday, when the top 18 teams, and the top six individuals not on those teams, advanced into the final two rounds. Willamette tied for 19th place out of the 43 teams who began the tournament. Davis was one of the six individual golfers who advanced after the first two rounds.
The NCAA Championship will conclude on Friday with the fourth round, which will be held at the El Campeon course. Davis has a scheduled tee time of 9:10 a.m. (EDT)/6:10 a.m. (PDT) after tee times were shifted earlier to minimize the impact of rain expected midday in central Florida.