The road to the NCAA Championship just got a whole lot tougher for the Bears. Cal dug itself in a pretty deep hole on day one of the NCAA West Regional, finishing in 21^st out of 27 teams and 17-over. The Bears, as is their habit of late, improved on day two to end the second round tied for 16^th. Only the top ten teams will qualify for the NCAA Championship, so the Bears need to gain ground-and quick. They’re seven strokes out of 10^th, so with some pretty flawless play, a comeback is not out of the question.

Sophomore Evan Derian is leading the Bears at five-over. Freshman Stephen Hale, who had a round to forget on Thursday, improved his second round tally by 11 strokes. Everyone did better on Friday, except for George Gandranata who tallied his second straight 75.

As expected, top-seeded USC is leading the pack at 2-under. Rory Hie and Jamie Lovemark, two of the best collegiate golfers in the nation, are once again dominating to keep the Trojans in front. (On a sidenote, please check out the links on those two guys. Let’s just say Rory really likes him some Green Day and Jamie…well, it speaks for itself.)

But the story of the tourney so far comes from the Ducks of Oregon. Although seeded 16^th, the Ducks are sitting pretty in second place. Senior Joey Benedetti is absolutely having the tournament of his career, posting up a 6-under going into the final round to lead all golfers.

This isn’t the only regional going on right now, of course, so here’s a quick update on the Central and East. In the Central, Wake Forest is stunning No. 1 ranked Alabama with a two round score of 9-over as opposed to the Tide’s 19-over. Looking good for the Demon Deacons going into the final round. But the real story is in the East regional. The No. 2 ranked Georgia Bulldogs are leading (no surprise there) with a tally of…wait for it…sit down if for some reason you’re looking at your computer while standing up…32-UNDER. Yes, you read that correctly: the Bulldogs are 32 strokes under par. Pretty crazy stuff.

At the end of Saturday, the field for the 2008 NCAA Championship will be set, so keep up with all the action at Golfstat. The Bears get their last shot at making the cut with a 12:12 pm tee time.

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