April 1, 2008

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Cal State Northridge men's golf blistered the Rancho San Marcos course on Monday and leads the OGIO Pacific Coast Intercollegiate after two rounds. The Matadors carded a two-round 586 and holds a 15-shot lead over second-place UC Santa Barbara (583) heading into Tuesday's final round.

Individually, freshman Nick Delio is in third place after carding a two-round four-under-par 138. Delio finished Monday with rounds of -3, 68 and -1, 70 amd trails leader Troy Merritt of Boise State by four strokes. Aaron Hobbs, competing as an individual, is in second place after two rounds with a six-under-par score of 136. Hobbs easily played his best golf of the season as the senior fired consecutive rounds of 68 on Monday.

Also in the top 10 for the Matadors are junior Erik Jarvey, who is tied for fifth at even-par 142 after rounds of +1, 72 and -1, 70. Junior Chris Satterlee is currently 10th after rounds of 72-71 left him at one-over-par 143.

Clint Oleson is just out of the top 10 in 12th-place after carding rounds of 70-75 left him at +3, 145 and Kyle Nicolson is tied for 34th at +8, 150 after rounds of 74-76.

In addition to Hobbs, John Gilles also competed as an individual and is tied for 26th-place at +6, 148 after rounds of 73-75.

Merritt was one of two players, Hobbs being the other, to break 70 in both rounds. He shot a tournament-best 5-under par 66 in the first round and followed that up with a 3-under par 68.

While the Matadors hold a 15-point edge over the host Gauchos, the next four teams are bunched up. After UCSB's 583, Cal Poly is third at 587, Boise State is fourth at 591, and Cal State Bakersfield is fifth at 592. Outside of Merritt, Hobbs, and Delio, Bakersfield had the only other player to shoot under-par for the first two rounds. Mike Flynn shot a 3-under par 139 and sits in fourth-place.

The final round of the 2008 OGIO Pacific Coast Intercollegiate will be played Tuesday morning with tee times ranging from 8:00 a.m., to 9:10 a.m.

- GO MATADORS -