Biwer Loses Ground At NCAA Central/Austin Regional

        AUSTIN —University of Colorado junior Justin Biwer was cruising along through 13 holes before struggling down the stretch as the second round of the NCAA Central/Austin Regional came a close.
 
        Biwer is tied for 50th with a 36-hole scorecard of 73-74—147, which has his 12 strokes out of the lead.  Competing here individually, to advance to the NCAA Finals he needs to be the low individual not on the top five teams; that golfer right now also leads the medalist race.
 
        Biwer started the round with a birdie on the 370-yard, par-4 1st hole and then made two pars; for the second straight day, he double-bogeyed the 375-yard, par-4 4th.  He remained at 1-over until he birdied three in a row, Nos. 9 through 11, and after parring 12 and 13, he was 2-under and had zoomed into a tie for 21st, some 22 spots up in the standings.  Then the struggles hit when he was trying to close out his round on the 7,399-yard, par-71 University of Texas Golf Club course.
 
        He had birdied the 562-yard, par-5 14th on Monday, but this time around made bogey.  He parred 15, and for the second time bogeyed the 248-yard, par-3 16th that brought him back down to even.  Then on the 517-yard, par-4 18th, his drive was nearly out-of-bounds but was still deemed unplayable; he made a triple bogey from there and thus finished with a 3-over 74.
 
        Through two rounds, he had six birdies, 23 pars, four bogeys, two doubles and a triple.  He has played the par-5s at 2-under, the par-3's at 3-over and the par-4's at 4-over.
 
        "Justin looked really good today – he had it to 2-under through 13 with a reachable par-5 in front of him," head coach Roy Edwards said.  "But it was just a struggle coming in from there. As always, he battled and we look forward to him putting it together tomorrow and to have a good final round."
 
        Wake Forest's Michael Brennan owns the individual lead with a 7-under 135 score, but three players are on his heels just one stroke back.  He's also the leader among those players not on a team in the top five who would advance to the finals.  Host Texas has a healthy lead in the team competition with an 22-under 546 score, good for a 10-shot edge over Tennessee.
 
        The final round is Wednesday; for the third straight day, Biwer will again tee off at 8:31 a.m. MDT on No. 1.  This time he will be paired with Jacksonville's Alexandre Vandermoten (150) and San Jose State's Xuan Luo (153).  The weather should be fine, partly cloudy skies with temperatures in the mid-80s.
 
        NOTES: The weather was essentially perfect, with sunny skies though it did warm into the low 90's by the end of the round … The average score for all 150 rounds is 72.31; it was shade below that for the second round (72.27) … Through 36 holes, 19 are players under par with five sitting at even … Biwer's triple on No. 18 was just the fourth of his career out of 1,980 holes played; the 18th is playing the toughest here (+0.53 to par both rounds with just three birdies) … The NCAA Finals are set for May 24-29 at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.
 
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