Dawgs Climb Behind Koelle’s Second-Straight Career Day At Amer Ari

WAIMEA, Hawaii – Following an up-and-down opening round at the Amer Ari, No. 5 Washington came out attacking and never let up on Friday, shooting 26-under par for the day, the second-lowest score of the round.
 
The showing vaulted the Huskies up to fourth in the team standings, up four spots from eighth. U Dub is eight shots back of leader No. 1 North Carolina.
 
“Today was a lot of fun,” assistant coach Chris Babcock said. “Our guys knew what they had to do today and they executed. The course is set up for birdies and we knew the leaders would shoot another really low score. It’s just a day where you can’t afford to get comfortable.”
 
For the second day running, true freshman Finn Koelle stole the show, carding his second career-best round in as many days. The native German shot a bogey-free 64, tied for the second-best round of the day at eight-under par, to move into a tie for second individually.
 
“Finn looked great today,” Babcock said. “He knew he needed another low score but he was so patient and he let the round come to him. He looked like an upperclassman out there. Really proud of Finn.”
 
Petr Hruby also filled up his scorecard, posting eight birdies in a six-under showing. The fifth year sits in a tie for 12th heading into Saturday’s final round.
 
“Props to Petr as well,” Babcock said. “He’s so solid and we can always count on him. Even though he’s playing well, he probably feels like he left a few shots out there. It just says a lot about his game.”
 
Matching Hruby, Taehoon Song also recorded eight birdies, including five in a six-hole stretch, to finish six-under. Teddy Lin carded seven birdies with just a single bogey for a six-under day, while Bo Peng mixed in six birdies with four bogey for a two-under round.
 
Meanwhile, Drew Warford posted an eagle for the second-straight day, finishing the round two-under.
 
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