Walford represents Defiance College at NAIA Men’s Golf National Championship

SILVIS, Ill. - Defiance College sophomore golfer Jordan Walford (Thunder Bay, Ontario/St. Patrick) competed at the NAIA's Men's Golf National Championship but did not clear the cut through the first two rounds after Tuesday and Wednesday's action at TPC Deere Run.

Walford, who earned a berth in the national tournament after winning the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference individual title, stood 137th on the leaderboard with a 36-hole total of 159 (+19). The tournament field is trimmed down for Thursday and Friday's final rounds to the top 15 teams plus the next top 6 individual golfers who are not members of those top-15 teams. Walford had the third-lowest score among the seven total golfers representing the WHAC, trailing UNOH's Luke Turner (+9) and Jose Luis Vargas (+13). The leader in the clubhouse through the first two rounds is Oklahoma City's Carter Ray at 2-under par 138, just two shots ahead of Marian's Lane Zedrick at even-par 140.

In Tuesday's first round, Walford had an afternoon tee time beginning on the 10th hole. He played even par through the first four holes, but a triple-bogey on the 14th hole set him back to 3-over par at the halfway mark of his first nine. He bogeyed the next three holes before a par to close the first half of the round. On the front nine of the course, he posted a 38 with 5 pars and 4 bogies to complete the round at an even 80. 

Walford trimmed one stroke off his round on Wednesday, firing a 79 that featured a 37 plus a 42 on the back nine for the second consecutive day. He started from the first tee with a morning tee time in the second round and bogeyed the first two holes. He settled in from there with back-to-back pars and went on to birdie the sixth hole to highlight a 3-over card on the front nine. On the back half of the course, he experienced a setback with his second triple-bogey of the tournament on the 11th hole before closing out the round with pars on 4 of the last 6 holes.

Walford closed the season with a 76.7 18-hole average as the program's second-lowest average for the 8th-best in program history.

-JACKETS-