BATON ROUGE – Louisiana Tech's Niilo Maki-Petaja put himself in a position to be the lone individual to come out of the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional as the Bulldog shot 73 (+1) in round two on a hot and humid Tuesday at the University Club.
 
The U-Club golf course sharpened its teeth in the second round as it played almost a half-a-shot harder than the first 18 holes.  Even so, Maki-Petaja ended 36 holes tied for 10th and just three shots back of second on the player leaderboard.  In order to qualify for NCAA Nationals, he will need to be the top individual on a team that does not finish in the top five.
 
The freshman came out of the gate striking the ball well, carding five straight pars.  Then for a second straight day, he was able to take advantage of the Par 5 No. 6.  After going eagle there yesterday, he broke through for his first birdie of the day in round two, making a six-footer.
 
He backed that up with another birdie on the Par 4 No. 7, draining a 20-footer this time to get to two under.  However, back-to-back bogeys on No. 8 and No. 9 gave Maki-Petaja a 36 on the front.
 
Tragedy struck on the Par 5 No. 11 when Maki-Petaja tried to go for the green in two but his 5-iron ended up going in the water.  He would end up making double bogey to drop back to Even for his round.
 
His maturity showed though as the Bulldog bounced right back by sinking a birdie on the Par 4 No. 12.  His second three-putt of the day came on the Par 4 No. 15 that resulted in a bogey, but he capped off the day with a strong finish as his wedge from the left rough landed two feet from the hole on the Par 4 No. 18.  He would go on to par birdie to get to Even (71-73=144) for the regional.
 
QUOTABLES
Head coach Matt Terry
"The course was about half a shot harder than yesterday.  I thought Niilo played a little bit better today.  I thought he rolled it better with the putter.  He hit a lot of good putts.  We have to clean up a little bit tomorrow, but at the end of the day all you want is an opportunity and he has that tomorrow.  Can't wait to walk 18 holes with him with the chance to do something special."
 
Niilo Maki-Petaja
"There was a lot of positives today.  We picked out good spots and fired away, which is all you can do.  I was able to make a nice two-foot birdie on the last hole to close out a day that was very up and down.  Things are going to happen on the golf course.  We try to stick to the game plan and execute."
 
NOTABLES

• The 73 tied for the 15th-lowest round of the day.
• With his four birdies today, Maki-Petaja is up to 120 birdies/eagles on the season.
• Maki-Petaja has totaled nine birdies/eagles through 36 holes, the fifth most in the entire field.
• He was one of just five players to birdie No. 7 and one of just eight players to birdie No. 6 and No. 18 in round two.

UP NEXT
Maki-Petaja will be in the final pairing once again for the last 18 holes.  He is scheduled to tee off at 10:34 a.m. CT at the University Club.
 
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