NORTH PLAINS, Ore. – The Purdue men’s golf team turned in the second-lowest round of the day and catapulted up the leaderboard at the Big Ten Championships held at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club.
The Boilermakers shot a 5-under par 275 to move up a whopping 11 spots into a fourth-place tie entering tomorrow’s final round.
Purdue’s 275 is the lowest 18-hole score by the Boilermakers in Big Ten Championship history.
Purdue has totaled 10-over par 570 (295-275) to sit in a fourth-place tie with both Nebraska (284-286) and No. 26 USC (293-277). The Boilermakers trail leader UCLA by 20 shots, but are within shouting distance of second-place Washington (+1) and third-place Illinois (+5).
The Boilermakers in fourth, however, represents a packed contingent in the middle of the pack. Michigan (+11), Rutgers (+12), Minnesota (+13), Oregon (+16), Penn State (+16), Northwestern (+17), Maryland (+18) and Michigan State (+19) are all within 10 shots of the fourth place.
Eleven teams are between 10-over par and 19-over par.
Kentaro Nanayama and Sam Easterbrook both turned in the fourth-best rounds of the day, posting a 3-under par 67. Nanayama moved into a tie for seventh at 1-under par 139 (72-67), while Easterbrook moved up 44 spots into a tie for 25th place at 3-over par 143 (76-67).
Both players took different avenues to get their 67s. Nanayama recorded four birdies, one bogey and 13 pars, playing the difficult front nine (his second nine) in 2-under par 33.
Easterbrook, meanwhile, played his opening nine (the back nine) in 5-under par 30, before playing his second nine in 2-over par.
Subbing in for the second round, Jenson Forrester made a big impact with an even-round 70. Forrester was 2-under par through five holes, went bogey, par, double-bogey over his next three holes, then played the rest of the way with nine pars and one birdie.
Will Harvey got off to a sensational start to round two en route to a 1-over par 71. He posted a birdie-eagle start, added another birdie on his 12th hole to conclude his round at 1-over par for a 36-hole tally of 7-over par 147 (76-71).
Andre Zhu is tied for 51st at 6-over par 146 (72-74) after a 4-over par 74 in the second round. Zhu had a tough three-hole stretch on his opening nine, but played the other 15 holes in even-par.
Purdue will be paired with USC and Nebraska in Sunday’s final round, teeing off hole No. 1, at 1:20 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET (10:20 to 11:00 a.m. PT).