Kleen’s 64 paces Bucs in Vegas

Published 10:11 am Wednesday, May 17, 2023

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Not even a three-hour lightning delay was going to slow down ETSU’s Algot Kleen (Fiskebackskil, Sweden).

After not having his score counted in Monday’s opening round, Kleen got off to a blazing start and never let his foot off the gas. Kleen, who birdied five of his first six holes in Tuesday’s second round of the Las Vegas Regional, fired an 8-under-par 64 en route to putting himself in contention individually and keeping the Buccaneers in the hunt at Bear’s Best Las Vegas.

Kleen, who fired his lowest collegiate round on Tuesday, just missed becoming the seventh Buccaneer to record a 63 and the sixth to fire a nine-under – both of which are program records. Even though Kleen missed those two records, the Buccaneer sophomore still tied the program record for a score related to par at an NCAA Regional. Kleen joined teammate Archie Davies (Carlisle, England) as the only two Buccaneers to post an eight-under at an NCAA Regional. Davies finished with an 8-under 63 in the second round of the 2021 Cle Elum Regional in Washington.

Kleen jumped 26 spots up the leaderboard into a tie for seventh at 10-under-par 134, putting him four shots off the lead. Meanwhile, as a team, the 33rd-ranked Buccaneers dropped into sixth, which is one spot below the coveted cut line. The Blue & Gold posted a 13-under 275 on Tuesday and are at 29-under-par 547 for the tournament.

Starting off on the back nine for the second straight day, Kleen registered three straight birdies, followed by a par on the par-3, 151-yard No. 13 and then went back-to-back birdies on No. 14 and 15 to finish with a 31 over his first nine holes. Kleen collected his sixth birdie of the day on the par-5, 529-yard No. 2 and ended his flawless round with an eagle on the par-5, 599-yard No. 8. For his round, Kleen totaled one eagle, six birdies and 11 pars.

Stanford’s Ethan Ng and San Francisco’s Matthew Anderson are tied atop the individual leaderboard at 14-under-par 130. Like Kleen, Anderson finished with an 8-under 64 on Tuesday and Ng posted a 6-under 66. Virginia’s Ben James, the No. 8 ranked player via Golfstat, and Stanford’s Michael Thorbjornsen, the No. 3 ranked golfer, are tied for third at 13-under-par 131. Utah Valley’s Brady McKinlay – playing as an individual – and Arizona State’s Preston Summerhays – the 18-hole leader – are tied for fifth at 12-under-par 132.

The Bucs, who again got off to a strong start as their countable scores resulted in a nine-under through the first nine holes, are one shot behind No. 28 Northwestern for fifth, two shots off No. 45 San Francisco for fourth and four shots away from No. 16 Virginia for third. No. 21 Oklahoma State lurks in seventh at 25-under-par 551.

Stanford moved ahead of Arizona State for the team lead at 42-under-par 534. The eighth-ranked Cardinal registered a 22-under 266 on Tuesday, while the fourth-ranked Sun Devils ended with a 12-under 276 and are 38-under-par 538 for the tournament. No. 16 Virginia remained in third at 33-under-par 543, while No. 45 San Francisco jumped into fourth at 31-under-par 545. The Dons and Northwestern totaled the second-lowest rounds of the day at 20-under 268. The Wildcats moved up six spots into fifth place.

For the second straight day, sophomore Jack Tickle (Bristol, Tenn.) continued to be solid for the Bucs as he finished with a 2-under 70 and is tied for 24th at 6-under-par 138. Freshman Matty Dodd-Berry (Wirral, England) also shot a 2-under 70 and is tied for 31st at 5-under-par 139. Redshirt sophomore Mats Ege (Kristiansand, Norway) provided ETSU with its final countable score as he finished at 1-under 71 and is tied for 37th at 4-under-par 140.

Tuesday’s round featured a lightning delay that started at 3:05 p.m. ET and lasted two hours and fifty-five minutes.

Final round pairings and tee times will be released later on Tuesday night.

Fans can follow live scoring via Golfstat.com. In addition, live tweets will be available by following the Bucs on Twitter @ETSU_MGolf.