Feb. 14, 2003

KONA, Hawaii - Fresh off its best opening round of the season, the University of Houston golf team did itself even better Thursday during the second round of the Waikoloa Intercollegiate at Kona, Hawaii.

A day after shooting 288 as a team, the Cougars fired a team score of 274 with the team's top four scorers shooting even par or better on the 6,566-yard, par-70 course at the Waikoloa Kings Course.

Freshman Kevin Newman and senior Simon Robinson each led the way Thursday with both shooting 3-under-par 67. Newman jumped into a tie for 21st place with a two-day score of 141, while Robinson improved 11 strokes from his first-day score with a career-best-tying 67 and was tied for 60th at 145.

Senior John Wine equaled his career-low round with another 70 during the second round and was tied for 14th at 140. Freshman Zach Mowbray continued his consistent play with a 1-over-par 70 and was tied for 21st.

The Cougars, who entered Thursday's second round in a tie for sixth place, jumped into a tie with Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Lamar for fourth place with a team score of 562. UH stood only eight strokes behind leader UCLA, seven strokes behind Conference USA rival TCU and only four behind third-place Arkansas.

USC, Washington, Pepperdine and Georgia Tech rounded out the Top-10 team leaders.

The tournament concludes Friday morning with the final 18 holes.