Vols freshman Jay Vandeventer grabbed a seat next to his grandfather, John, a few minutes after officials halted play in advance of inclement weather.
His grandfather gave a thumbs down — golf-sign language for 1 under.
The Vols’ tournament has been a traditional thumbs down.
UT shot 5 over on Wednesday before the combination of the 2-hour delay and darkness halted play with David Holmes and Robin Wingardh through 16 holes.
Tennessee is in 26th place at 14 over and 13 shots from reaching the match-play weekend.
“It’s disappointing because we had a pretty good round going and just some slip,” coach Jim Kelson said. “Now it’s going to take the best round of the year. It would take 8 under, 10 under or something like that.”
Garrick Porteous shot 2 under, Vandeventer and Darren Renwick each shot 5 over.
Holmes is 3 over, and Wingardh is 1 under, each with two holes to play.
“I made a birdie on No. 15 just before the break,” Porteous said. “The delay gave me a chance to regroup, and then I came out and made another birdie.”
Tennessee will begin its final round in the morning, most likely around 9:30 a.m. Early-morning results from the second round will impact their tee time.
“We just kind of had six or seven shots that weren’t very good,” Kelson said. “That’s just way too many in a competition like this.”