Titans shoot best round of day, sit in second at NJCAA national tournament

The Eastern Florida State College men's golf team shot 1-over as a team and are sitting in second place halfway through the NJCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship in Garden City, Kansas.

Freshman Fraser Davren led the charge, shooting a 3-under par 69 which included birdies on the final four holes and five of the final eight.

"Honestly I played well all day. I left some putts short and others hit the edge, my approach play finally paid off," said Davren, who is at 2-over for the tournament and sits tied for 12^th.

It looked as if the run would end on the 17^th as he stared down a 35-foot putt, but Davren struck it well and it landed in the bottom of the cup.

"That was unexpected for sure," Davren said with a smile.

Teammate Mathieu Echelard also found his stroke in the middle of the round, going from 2-over after six holes to finish two under for the day and sits tied for eighth. The freshman from France birdied five of eight holes between seven and 14.

Freshman Ryan Rozic was solid all day, finishing 2-over while Brad Bawden finished 4-over.

"We are in the thick of it, we played some really good golf. We made some unforced errors, but I actually thought the weather was going to be a lot more severe than it was and that helped," Eastern Florida State College men's golf coach Jamie Howell said. "We have to shore up some loose ends. Brad hit the ball well just didn't get it to go in the hole today, Fraser obviously had a good day, Mathieu played well and Ryan Rozic was solid. Tyler struggled a little today but we have to put today aside and get ready for tomorrow."

The Titans, whose 1-over par 73 was the best score of round two will tee off in the final group with tournament leader Odessa College, who comes into Day 3 with a seven- stroke lead. Indian Hills Community College is in third, one stroke behind the Titans. The three teams will begin the third round at 1:10 p.m. eastern time.

"If you look at this semester, we have not gotten off to brilliant starts but as the tournament goes on we get better," Davren said. "We are looking to win this tournament, there is no secret about that and we will keep getting better as this tournament goes on."