CARROLLTON, Texas – Louisiana Tech's ace, Niilo Maki-Petaja, made an ace on Monday as the Bulldog shot 73-69=142 (-2) to finish the 36 holes tied for third in the Maridoe Intercollegiate.
 
Playing at the very difficult Maridoe Golf Club, the sophomore got off to a slow start with bogeys on three of his first holes to start round one.  He settled in after that though, shooting two under the rest of the way with back-to-back birdies on No. 6 and No. 7 to shoot one over for the round.
 
Maki-Petaja conquered those first few holes in round two, sinking birdies on No. 13 and No. 15 to quickly get into the red.  However, he ran into another rough stretch that saw him four bogeys over five holes.
 
The flip switched yet again, draining back-to-back birdies on two short Par 4s.  Following a par on the Par 5 No. 7, Maki-Petaja pulled out an 8-iron on the Par 3 No. 8 and holed out for his first ever hole in one.  He tacked on another birdie for good measure on No. 9 to finish the round at three under. 
 
It was the 20th round at or under par this season for Maki-Petaja, tying his mark from last season and one shy of tying the program record.  He was the top Bulldog in both rounds as LA Tech finished the day tied for 11th after shooting 313-294=607 (+31). 
 
The first hour is ultimately what did the Bulldogs in for round one as the team shot 24 over through their first five holes played.  After Maki-Petaja's 73, the counted scores came from Jake Plumb (+7), Morton Bailey (+8), and Oskari Schuvalow (+9). 
 
LA Tech figured things out though in round two, shooting 18 strokes better at six over which tied for the fourth best round.  Included in that tie was 3rd-ranked Arizona State.
 
Aside from Maki-Petaja's 69, Bailey put together a solid round of 72 (E).  The freshman was on a role as he was four under through 12 holes before settling in at Even for the round.  Schuvalow's 74 (+2) and Plumb's 79 (+7) for the other two scorecards counted. 
 
Seventh-ranked Oklahoma was the only team under par after 36 holes.  The Sooners are at eight under, 14 strokes ahead of the Sun Devils.  
 
UP NEXT
LA Tech will play the third and final round tomorrow at the Maridoe Golf Club.  It will be another shotgun start at 8 a.m. CT.  Live scoring is available at LATechSports.com/GolfStats.
 
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