WILLIAMSBURG -- All-American Daniel Summerhays easily left his opening round of four-over-par 74 behind him and got back on track with an impressive 63 on Thursday moving him 99 spots into 8th place at the 2007 NCAA National Championship.
Summerhays started making putts early and often on Thursday, which got his confidence going. Comfortable with the greens, Summerhays sunk three putts over 25 feet, including one from 40 feet on No. 18 to finish with only 24 putts for the day. With eight birdies, including four in the last five holes, he finished with a 63. His seven-under-par round, the lowest of the tournament so far, boosted him up almost 100 places to finish the day tied for eighth with a three-under-par 137 total.
"Man the boy can putt," said BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank, "Danny is pretty impressive. He's definitely starting to make some noise out here."
Summerhays played the Golden Horseshoe Gold Course in Williamsburg, last fall at the PING/Golfweek preview where he tied the NCAA 18-hole record with a finishing round of 60. He is one of only four student-athletes that have accomplished this feat in NCAA golf history.
"He really thought he had a chance this week to win it, but he got off to a bad start," said Brockbank, "Today he started to get some breaks and he's put himself in contention again, but there is still a lot of golf yet to be played."
He struggled the first day of play, finishing in 107th with a four-over-par 74. According to head coach Bruce Brockbank, it seemed like the course knew he was the one who owned the course record.
"He could have easily shot a 70," said Brockbank, "He got some of the most horrendous breaks I've ever seen."
Summerhays is making a habit of scoring in the low 60s during the spring season. This is his fifth round in the sixties of the last three tournaments. He closed the NCAA West Regional with a nine-under-par 63 to individually qualify to the finals by one stroke.
Last time BYU sent an individual qualifier to the NCAA Championship was Bruce Brockbank when he was a player for the Cougars in 1988. "He's doing a lot better than I did." Brockbank said.
Only 5 strokes from the lead, Summerhays will try to keep moving up the leaderboard tomorrow when he tees off at 8:55 am EST. Follow the action live on golfstat.com
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
1. Bronson LaCassie Minnesota 67-65--132 -8
2. Jon Curan Vanderbilt 70-64--134 -6
T3. Rob Grube Stanford 64-71--135 -5
T3. Dustin Johnson Coastal Calif. 67-68--135 -5
T3. Zach Sucher UAB 68-67--135 -5
T3. Cameron Tringale Georgia Tech 67-68--135 -5
7. Mathew Savage Florida State 67-69--136 -3
T8. Tom Glissmeyer Souther Calif. 68-69--137 -3
T8. Gareth Shaw East Tennessee 69-68--137 -3
T8. Daniel Summerhays Brigham Young 74-63--137 -3
T8. Martin Ureta North Carolina 70-67--137 -3