BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Led by freshman Jordan Lee and senior Cody Roth, the Western Washington University men's golf team is in second place after the first two rounds of the 47^th Annual WWU Invitational played Monday at Bellingham Golf & Country Club.
 
Playing 36 holes in nearly perfect fall conditions, the Vikings were tested on a tough course setup, but battled to finish with rounds of 289 in the morning (1 over par) and 287 (1 under par) in the afternoon.
 
WWU trails Chico State by three strokes heading into Tuesday's final round, which will begin with a 9 am shotgun start. The Wildcats turned in rounds of 284 (-4) in the morning and 289 (+1) in the afternoon. The University of British Columbia is in third place behind the Vikings at +2 (578), with Simon Fraser (+8, 584) and Stanislaus State (+8, 584) rounding out the top five in the 20-team field.
 
"It was a long day on our home course I'm very proud of the way the guys controlled their emotions on a challenging course set up," said sixth-year head coach Luke Bennett. "
 
Lee (Tacoma, WA/Bellarmine Prep) recorded rounds of 69 (-3) and 72 (E) in his second collegiate tournament to sit in a tie for fourth place. He tallied 25 pars and 7 birdies in Monday's two rounds.
 
"Jordan looked awesome this morning and kept is solid playing going in the afternoon," added Bennett.
 
Roth (Bellingham, WA) continued his solid start to the season with rounds of 73 (+1) and 70 (-2) to sit in sixth place heading into the final round. The reigning GNAC Golfer of the Week has recorded three rounds of par-or-better so far this season (out of 5 rounds).
 
"Cody continued his solid play and was able to make a few more birdies this afternoon," said Bennett.
 
Senior Nick Sparling (Dublin, OH/Dublin Coffman/Ohio State) is tied for 16^th at 2-over-par with rounds of 72 and 74, and senior Michael Butler (Sammamish, WA/Skyline) and junior Ethan Casto (Snohomish, WA) are tied for 35^th at 5-over-par.
 
Chico State's Josh McCollum leads the 104-player field at 8-under-par after turning in back-to-back rounds of 4-under-par 68. Michael Jura of Stanislaus State is in second place at 7-under-par after running in the low round of the day with a 6-under-par 66 in the second round, and Andrew Harrison from UBC is in third place at 6-under-par 138.
 
The final round of the WWU Invitational will be played tomorrow with a 9 am shotgun start. Live results can be tracked via Golfstat.com.
 

2018 WWU Men's Golf Invitational Bellingham Golf & Country Club  8 Bellingham, WA  8  Par 72  8  6,929 Yards
Pos.	Team/Player	To Par	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Total
2	Western Washington	E	289	287	--	576
T4	Jordan Lee	-3	69	72	--	141
6	Cody Roth	-1	73	70	--	143
T16	Nick Sparling	+2	72	74	--	146
T35	Michael Butler	+5	75	74	--	149
T35	Ethan Casto	+5	78	71	--	149
T89	Brody Bonfilio (ind)	+14	83	75	--	158
Pos.	Team	To Par	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Total
1.	Chico State	-3	284	289	--	573
2.	Western Washington	E	289	287	--	576
3.	British Columbia	+2	290	288	--	578
4.	Simon Fraser	+8	296	288	--	584
	Stanislaus State	+8	296	288	--	584
6.	Saint Martin's	+11	283	304	--	587
7.	Academy of Art	+16	294	298	--	592
	Cal State San Marcos	+16	294	298	--	592
9.	Cal State Eastbay	+17	291	302	--	593
10.	Concordia (OR)	+18	300	294	--	594
11.	Colorado Christian	+19	302	293	--	595
12.	Hawaii Hilo	+21	291	306	--	597
13.	Holy Names	+25	297	304	--	601
14.	Dixie State	+26	303	299	--	602
15.	Northwest Nazarene	+27	303	300	--	603
	CSU San Bernardino	+27	302	301	--	603
17.	Montana State Billings	+28	300	304	--	604
18.	UC San Diego	+35	306	305	--	611
19.	Victoria	+40	311	305	--	616
20.	Notre Dame De Namur	+64	318	322	--	640

The complete fall and spring schedule, as well as historical information on the program, can be viewed at WWUVikings.com/MGolf.
  The WWU men's golf team has an incredible streak of advancing to the NCAA Championships in each of the 20 seasons the program has competed at the NCAA Division II level dating back to the 1998-99 season, including a 3^rd-place finish at the 2013 national championship. The program has produced 17 All-Americans and has won 8 of 10 Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships since the tournament debuted in 2008. The Vikings have also featured the GNAC Championships individual medalist in 7 of 11 tournaments, including 2018 champion Ethan Casto.