Cam Norman Tied for Sixth at NCAA Championship; Two Off Pace

Saturday, May 27

Sugar Grove, Ill.

All Day

Troy University

NCAA Championship

Photo by: Tim Cowie

Cam Norman Tied for Sixth at NCAA Championship; Two Off Pace

5/27/2017 8:31:00 PM | Golf (M)

By: Adam Prendergast

Live Scoring

SUGAR GROVE, Illinois – The underdog story of the NCAA Championship continues as Cam Norman shot a 4-under 68 in Saturday's second round at Rich Harvest Farms to propel the Troy senior 12 spots under the leaderboard into a tie for sixth place and just two shots off the lead.

Norman carded six birdies in the round including four on the back nine (he started on No. 10) as he made the turn at 3-under. The Greenville, Ala., native opened his round with a bogey but quickly got back even with a birdie on the 575-yard, par-5 No. 11; Norman played the four par-5 holes at 3-under on the day.

He earned his spot in the NCAA Championship field after shooting a 3-under 213 at the NCAA College Grove Regional where he was the top finisher not on a qualifying team. Norman entered the NCAA Championship ranked 316^th nationally and is one of just two players – Arkansas' Mason Overstreet – in the top-15 following two rounds not ranked in the top 100 nationally.

Texas' Scottie Scheffler is the individual leader at 8-under and four golfers are tied for second at 7-under. Norman is part of a group of eight golfers tied for sixth at 6-under.

The top 15 teams and the top nine individuals not on those 15 teams following Sunday's third round will advance to play one additional round on Monday. The individual national champion will be crowned following Monday's round, while the top eight teams will advance to match play.

A birdie on No. 14 pushed his card into the red, and following a pair of pars, he faced the toughest hole on the course, the 490-yard, par-4 17^th, which has played to an average score of +0.76 through two rounds with just 25 birdies among the 156 players. Norman's second shot stuck to within 15-feet of the pin and he drained the putt for birdie and followed with another on the 18^th for a 33 on the back nine.

Norman quickly went to 4-under with a birdie on the par-5 No. 2 but a bogey on No. 4 pushed him back to 3-under. However, he responded with a two on the par-3 No. 5 and followed with four straight pars to close the day with a 68.

Norman has earned himself a top pairing for the final round and he will go off No. 1 beginning at 8:02 a.m. alongside Overstreet and Wake Forest's Will Zalatoris, the nation's fourth-ranked player.

Quotable – Cam Norman
"The scores were low this morning so I knew a low round was out there. The good thing about today was that I followed my bogeys up with birdies. That is a hole (No. 17) when you step on the tee box you are just trying to make par. So, when I hit to 15-feet and made par it gave me all the confidence in the world heading into the last 10 holes on the golf course.

"I'm going to try (tomorrow) and play as we have the first two rounds, which is just one shot at a time. The forecast for tomorrow is not looking good so par might be a better score tomorrow with the way the weather might be."