Alarm clocks are going buzz long before dawn at the Hilton Hotel in Toledo.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and half of the field will resume second-round play in the NCAA championship at 6:45 a.m. on Thursday.
A 4 1/2 hour weather delay disrupted play Wednesday morning before the Mocs took the course and before any team could finish its second round.
“The hard part is going to be getting the guys awake at 4:35 in the morning,” coach Mark Guhne said. “Then it could be hard for them to get focused.
“It’s been a long hard day.”
The Mocs began the day in third place at 8 over par for the tournament. At the conclusion of play Wednesday — with half of the teams on the course — the Mocs are tied for 13th at 18 over with Alabama, Southern Cal and Georgia Tech which completed their rounds.
Oklahoma State and Georgia finished their rounds with the OSU in first place at even-par by five shots over second-place UGA.
UTC golfers ended Wednesday on Nos. 15-17. Three of those holes are among the easiest six on the par-71 course.
“We have a few holes we might take advantage of in the early morning,” Guhne said. “On the back, you can make some birdies and the front is pretty hard.”
The Mocs are five shots out of being in the Elite Eight which will compete in match play for the national championship.
Senior Ben Rickett is 1 over through 16 holes and leads the Mocs in the second round. Fredrik Qvicker is 2 over, Jonathan Hodge is 3 over, Stephan Jaeger is 4 over and Derek Rende is 6 over.
“We have to finish this round, see where we stand, and hopefully turn around and play in the morning as part of the top 15 teams,” Guhne said. “No matter what happens, we have to stay aggressive. We can’t just hold on.”
David Uchiyama is a sports writer at the Chattanooga Times Free Press who began his tenure here in May 2001. His primary beats are UTC athletics — specifically men’s basketball and athletic department administration — and golf, which includes coverage from the PGA Tour to youth events. He also covers other high school sports, outdoor adventures, and contributes to other sections of the newspaper when necessary. David grew up in Salinas, Calif., and began working ...
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