UC SANTA BARBARA OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE

The Gauchos are in second place, 15 shots back of the Matadors as the teams enter Tuesday's final round.

March 31, 2008

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -

Cal State Northridge used a balanced attack to take a comfortable 15-shot lead over second-place UC Santa Barbara in the team standings after two round of the OGIO-Pacific Coast Intercollegiate at Rancho San Marcos Golf Course in Santa Barbara. Troy Merritt of Boise State shot an 8-under par 134 to take a two-shot lead in the individual standings.

Interestingly, the Matadors top score came from Aaron Hobbs, who is second with a 6-under par 136, but played as an independent. Their top qualifying player after 36 wholes was Nick Delio, who carded a 4-under par 138. Eric Jarvey shot an even-par 142, and Chris Satterlee shot a 1-over par 143, to round out Cal State Northridge's top-10 quartet after day one.

Merritt was one of two players, Hobbs being the other, to break 70 in both roiunds. 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.

Next to Hollenbeck, the top UCSB score came from an independent, Michael Casca, who is tied for fifth with an even-par 142.

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.