Brothers leading Virginia, Stanford's Karl Vilips hot start at Saturday's second round at 2024 NCAA Men's Golf Championship (2024)

Virginia at the 2024 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship. (Photo: Virginia Athletics)

Under-par scores have been hard to come by through two rounds, but don’t tell Virginia that.

The Cavaliers are in the driver’s seat after 36 holes thanks to great performances from its 4-5 bags, the brothers Duangmanee. George, a senior, shot 1-under 71 for the second straight day and is solo third. Josh, a freshman, shot even par for the second straight day and is also in the top 10. Sophom*ore Ben James, the reigning Phil Mickelson Award winner, is even after 36 holes, leaving Virginia as the only team with three players inside the top 10 after two rounds.

Virginia is at 1 over, leading Illinois by three shots. The Fighting Illini also shot 1 under during Saturday’s second round, with Max Herendeen’s 2-under 70 leading the way. He’s at 1 under for the championship.

Both teams were stellar on the back nine, with Virginia playing the difficult side is 1 under, among counting scores, while Illinois was 3 over.

Vanderbilt’s Gordon Sargent and North Carolina’s Austin Greaser at the 2024 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship. (Photo: UNC Athletics)

The top-three teams have been paired together for the first two rounds of the championship, and Saturday was a different script from the opening round.

Vanderbilt, the No. 2 team in the country, shot 2 under, the first team to card an under-par round during the championship and the best round of the event thus far. The Commodores moved nine spots up the leaderboard thanks to Gordon Sargent’s 3-under 69, Jackson Van Paris’ 1-under 71 and an even-par day from Cole Sherwood.

Meanwhile, Auburn shot 5 over for the second straight day, with freshman Jackson Koivun’s even-par 72 the best score of Saturday. For North Carolina, the Tar Heels had seven birdies in their four four holes (among counting scores) but amassed only six the rest of the day. Four of the five North Carolina players in the lineup shot over par. However, both teams remained inside the top five.

Vanderbilt, Auburn and North Carolina sit third, fourth and fifth after two rounds of play. Those teams came into the championship as the favorites, and they are showing why early.

As a team, Stanford didn’t have the best day, shooting 13 over. Karl Vilips, meanwhile, is in the driver’s seat in the individual race.

Vilips shot 4-under 68 on Saturday to follow up an opening bogey-free 69. He started on the 10th hole, making eagle, and turned in 5-under 31, one of the best 9-hole scores during the two weeks of championships on the back nine.

Vilips birdies Nos. 13, 15 and 17. He had a bogey on the first before bouncing back on the par-5 second. He bogeyed the par-4 seventh before carding consecutive pars.

He leads by five shots over Ohio State’s Adam Wallin, who bogeyed his opening and closing hole in the second round before playing the next 17 in 1 over.

One small tweak completely changes the par-5 18th hole.

The tee was moved up for Saturday’s second round for the difficult par 5. Instead of playing a little more than 600 yards into the wind, today the hole was playing roughly 560 yards, giving players an actual opportunity to go for the green in two shots.

Let’s set it up. The hole always plays back into the wind, so 600 yards is virtually impossible, even for the longest hitters in the game. Add in a landing area that narrows to roughly 20-25 yards wide the farther players hit their drive, the natural shape of the hole takes driver out of plenty players hands, especially those who can’t find the fairway. While good drives will be rewarded, water lurking on both sides of the fairway will punish any wayward shots.

Then there’s a creek that meanders through the fairway roughly 50 yards short of the green. During the women’s championship, not one player went for the green in two, everyone laying up short of the creek. It became a wedge-off, seeing who could hit it closer to possibly get a birdie. (There were only five eagles during the women’s event, all on hole outs and only one on a par 5).

On Saturday, plenty of players took their chances going for the green. A lot of golf balls came up short in the fairway between the creek and the green, but the tee being moved up gave players an opportunity to send it. It made the hole much better for spectators to watch and gave more excitement.

Scoring was higher on the hole Saturday than Friday, but that’s mainly because the pin was in a bit more difficult spot on a ridge. It’s clear moving the tee up doesn’t make the hole significantly easier, but it does make it better.

The chances of the tee remaining up for stroke play are slim, but it would be shame if it’s not moved up for match play. The hole was a dud for the women, and hopefully the same mistake isn;t made for the men.

As has become tradition, playing in the morning wave Sunday is a huge advantage for teams who want to make Sunday’s 54-hole cut to the top-15 teams.

However, there are a few top-seeded teams who will go off in the afternoon on Sunday, making the climb to make the cut a difficult one.

No. 8 Texas Tech is at 34 over, and No. 9 Oklahoma is at 27 over. No. 15 California is in a bit better spot, but still sitting at 24 over and with shots to make up.

The cut line after Saturday is sitting at 22 over, though that’s likely to move a bit on Sunday.