Top-ranked Oklahoma State is almost assured of advancing from the NCAA South Central Regional golf tournament - barring a monumental collapse.
The Cowboys' success so far leaves the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga among a handful of teams fighting for the final four championship qualifying spots from Colorado National Golf Club today.
"We'll have to do something pretty good. We'll probably have to shoot 10 under to have a chance at advancing," UTC coach Mark Guhne said by phone. "We need everybody to step up and shoot under par tomorrow."
The Mocs shot an even-par 288 on Friday, which puts them at 3 over for the tournament.
They are tied for eighth with Northwestern and need to leapfrog Colorado State and Arizona State, who are tied for sixth at 4 under, plus TCU to play in the championship tournament next month.
"You wouldn't think even par was bad, but it didn't move us up," Guhne said. "In fact, it backed us up a spot."
OSU leads at 25-under 551 and owns a 16-shot lead on Auburn. Georgia and Clemson are tied for third at 6 under and TCU is fifth at 5 under.
Freshman Chris Robb led UTC for the second straight day. He shot a 3-under 69 on Friday after a 70 on Thursday. The Scotland native is tied for sixth overall. He can advance to the championship as an individual if he's the top player on a non-advancing team. Robb is tied with Scott Pinckney of Arizona State for that spot.
"Hopefully the whole team can advance so we don't have to worry about it," Guhne said. "But he's only two shots out of the lead and has a chance to win this tournament."
UTC junior Stephan Jaeger shot 1 under and is even for the tournament. Freshmen Davis Bunn and Benni Weilguni each shot 2 over on Friday. Sophomore Steven Fox had the drop score.
Also in Colorado, former Baylor School star Harris English is 2 under for the tournament and helped Georgia shoot 12 under and move into a tie for third.
At the Central Regional in Indiana, Tennessee is in seventh place and eight shots behind fifth-place Stanford at Wolf Run Golf Club outside Indianapolis. Former Baylor golfer Jay Vandeventer shot 5 over on Friday for the Vols and is tied for 42nd at 8 over.