April 26, 2004

Galena, Ohio - After the first day of the Horizon League Men's Golf Championship, Cleveland State sits in fourth after tallying a two-round total of 602 Monday. The Vikings shot a first-round 299 and followed with a 303 at the par 72, 6,687-yard Royal American Golf Links in Galena, Ohio.

Senior Billy Houle (75-72) and freshman Ben Grandy (73-74) paced the Vikings through the first 36 holes, carding two-round scores of 147 for a seventh-place tie. Freshman Mike Rutgers followed the pair with a 153 (75-78) for an 18th-place tie.

"We definitely were prepared to play, but we just didn't execute our short game shots in the second round," CSU head coach Tom Porten noted. "We lost 10 shots to the leaders in the first nine holes on the afternoon. However, I'm still optimistic about our chances of moving up into the top three tomorrow."

Butler tallied a 584 (294-290) for the team lead with Wright State only a stroke behind with a 585 (290-295). Butler's Johnathan Novak shot a tournament-best 69 in the second round to lead the field with a 140 (71-69).

The final round of the Horizon League Men's Golf Championship gets underway Tuesday (April 27) at 8:00 a.m.

CSU Scores
T7 Ben Grandy 73-74---147
T7 Billy Houle 75-72---147
T18 Mike Rutgers 75-78---153
T25 Mike Bognar 76-80---156
T25 Cody Harris 77-79---156