The leaderboard at the NCAA men’s golf championships tightened after Stanford’s Karl Vilips, who held a five-stroke advantage after two rounds, shot a 4-over 76 and dropped to second place entering the final round Monday at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa’s North Course.
Ohio State’s Adam Wallin now leads at 5-under, followed by Vilips and Virginia’s Ben James at 3-under and three others at 2-under. In all, 14 players are within five shots of Wallin, a departure from the women’s tournament last week when eventual champion Adela Cernousek of Texas A&M led by six strokes after three rounds.
Christo Lamprecht of Georgia Tech, currently No. 1 in the world amateur rankings, withdrew after a first-round 70 with a back soreness. No. 2 Gordon Sargent of Vanderbilt is among those at 2-under. No. 4 Michael Thorbjornsen of Stanford is 11-over. USD’s Andi Xu is 10-over.
Illinois took over the lead in the team competition at a combined 2-under, the only team under par. Virginia is second, followed by Vanderbilt, Florida State and Ohio State. Defending champion Florida is eighth. Arizona is tied for ninth, the only West Coast school to make Monday’s 15-team cut.
The individual champion is crowned Monday, and the team competition is cut to eight for match play Tuesday and Wednesday.
