Oct. 18, 2010

BATON ROUGE - Louisiana Tech senior Clinton Shepard shot a 36-hole total of six-under-par 138 in the opening two rounds of the 2010 David Toms Intercollegiate hosted by LSU at the Country Club of Louisiana.

Shepard trails the first day leaders Ken Looper and Austin Gutgsell of LSU by only one stroke heading into Tuesday's final round while he sits tied with LSU's Andrew Loupe in third place.

The West Monroe native shot an opening round of two-under-par 70 before coming back during the afternoon and firing a four-under 68 to pace the Bulldogs who are currently in 10th place out of the 14-team field.

Jonathan Bale and Cody Blankenship - playing as an individual - both shot two-over-par totals of 146 and are tied for 37th after two rounds. However, head coach Jeff Parks team coming off its first team win in more than three years struggled to get consistent play from the rest of its golfers during the opening day.

Junior Cody Santone shot an opening round 77 before bouncing back in the afternoon to shot a 73, putting him in a tie for 53rd place with a total of 150. Sophomore Sam Forgan was impressive in the morning with a 73 before stumbling during the afternoon with a 78. Forgan sits in a tie for 59th.

Freshman Jack Lempke struggled throughout the day, shooting 77 and 79 to finish with a two-round total of 156 as he is tied for 69th.

The ninth-ranked LSU Tigers lead the team competition with a 17-under-par total of 559 followed by eight-ranked Arkansas (566), Middle Tennessee (569), South Alabama (570), North Florida (573), Mississippi State (578), Southeastern Louisiana (579), UL-Lafayette (582), Ole Miss (583), LA Tech (585), UAB (588), Kansas State (589), Rice (591) and Georgia Southern (593).

Tech is looking for its fourth straight top four finish although the Bulldogs will have their work cut out for them heading into Tuesday's 8 a.m. shotgun start.

Fans can follow all of Tuesday's final round with live scoring at www.golfstat.com.