AUSTIN, Texas — UTSA senior Hunter Bott flew up the leaderboard with a record-setting scorecard in the second round of the NCAA Austin Regional on Tuesday at UT Golf Club (par 71/7,399 yards).
Entering the second day with a share of 66th place after posting a 6-over-par 77 on Monday, Bott fired a 4-under 67 to move up 29 places into a tie for 37th at 2-over 144 with 18 holes left to play on Wednesday.
Bott’s 67 marked the lowest score registered by a Roadrunner in any NCAA postseason event, eclipsing by three strokes Christian Fanfelle’s 1-under 70 logged in the final round of the 2021 Kingston Springs Regional at the Golf Club of Tennessee. It also matched the best score turned in by any player through the first two rounds of the Austin Regional, including Texas’ Christiaan Maas, the only other golfer with a 4-under scorecard on Tuesday.
The No. 3 seed among 10 individuals, Bott opened the second day with a par followed by back-to-back birdies, writing down a two on the 194-yard second and a three on the 493-yard third. After posting two more pars, the two-time all-conference performer made birdie putts on the 406-yard, par-4 sixth and the 462-yard, par-4 seventh. He then closed out a 4-under 31 on the front nine with a pair of pars.
Bott continued his torrid pace to start the back with a birdie-three on the 409-yard 10th. The senior from Montgomery, Texas, then reeled off three consecutive pars before recording back-to-back birdies for the third time today with a four on the 562-yard 14th and a three on the 472-yard 15th to get him to 7-under par for the round. However, Bott had to settle for bogeys on each of the final three holes en route to his ninth sub-70 scorecard of the season.
Bott is only two strokes back of the top 20 and five shots out of a four-way tie for 10th place at 3-under 139 in the field led by Wake Forest’s Michael Brennan at 7-under 135 (67-68).
In the team standings, Texas tops the 13-team field at 22-under par, followed by Tennessee (-12), Notre Dame (-10), BYU (-6) and Utah (E).
The top five teams (30 teams total) and the low individual not on an advancing team (six individuals total) from each of the six regional sites will advance to play in the NCAA Championship on May 24-29 at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California.
The final round is slated for Wednesday and Bott will tee off from No. 1 at 9:42 a.m.
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