April 19, 2008

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – South Carolina sophomore George Bryan IV moved into the top five individually and is leading the No. 10 Gamecocks into a tie for fourth place through two rounds of the SEC Championship at the Frederica Golf Club. South Carolina moved up four places behind a second-round team score of 289 (+1) and is five strokes behind tournament-leader Alabama heading into Sunday’s final round.

With a 71 (-1) on Saturday, Bryan made a move up the individual standings, improving four places into a tie for fourth, two shots off the individual leader. After back-to-back birdies on Nos. 14 and 15, a double bogey and bogey on the next two holes brought him back to even for the round. Bryan pulled out his fifth birdie of the day on the par-5 18th to get back under par.

Senior Warren Thomas came into the day tied with Bryan for eighth after a first-round 72 and fought out a 74 (+2) Saturday to stay in the top 20. After a front nine riddled with five bogeys to go with two birdies, Thomas opened the back nine with a birdie on the par-4 10th. After following that with four straight pars, a birdie on the par-5 15th got him back to one over with three holes to play. A brief stumble on the par-4 17th had him in the clubhouse with a share of 19th place.

Surging up the leaderboard into a tie for 26th place, senior Mark Anderson recovered from Friday’s 77 (+5) to shoot 71 (-1) on Saturday. After two birdies and a bogey on the front nine, the Gamecock veteran scored par on each hole of the back nine. Junior Mark Silvers III is one of the golfers sharing 26th place with Anderson after he turned in a 73 (+1) in the second round. Shaving two strokes off his Friday scorecard, Silvers’ round had just two bogeys and was capped by a birdie on No. 18.

Sophomore Patrick Rada matched his opening-round 75 (+3) with a 75 on Saturday to sit in 35th place. In his first postseason event, Rada scored back-to-back birdies on Nos. 7 and 8, but they were not enough to offset four bogeys on the front nine. He was much steadier on the back nine with six pars and a birdie on No. 14, a par 3, to get back to one over, but he closed the round with bogeys on Nos. 17 and 18 for the second-straight day.

Alabama holds a narrow three-shot lead over Georgia with Florida another shot back. The Gamecocks and Tennessee are one stroke behind Florida in fourth place. Alabama’s Joseph Sykora continues to lead the individual chase, following Friday’s 68 (-4) with a 73 (+1) on Saturday. LSU’s Jarrod Barsamian and Tennessee’s David Holmes are one stroke behind Sykora.