BOULDER CITY, NEVADA – A balanced day of golf at Boulder City Creek Golf Club positioned UT Tyler in the top half of an elite field at the Las Vegas Desert Classic following rounds one and two on Monday.
 
The Patriots posted rounds of 289-294 and sit in a tie for eighth place on a leaderboard that features nine teams ranked within the top-25 nationally. UT Tyler will enter tomorrow's third and final round a shot back of seventh place with their 583 team total, and nine shots back of the top five.
 
Lincoln Memorial went 11-under as a team with rounds of 276-289 to sit four shots ahead of Oklahoma Christian on the team leaderboard. Adam Duncan of Colorado Christian and Colorado State-Pueblo's Jamie Roberts are tied atop the individual leaderboard at eight-under par.
 
UT Tyler found balance across the board on Monday with just seven shots separating the five individuals for the Patriots. UT Tyler didn't post a single round above 75 as a team.
 
Junior Jackson Naeger shot one-under on the day to lead the Patriots in a tie for 19^th place, carding rounds of 71-72 for a 143 total. UT Tyler led the field in pars on Monday with 123 as a team, but made the second-lowest amount of birdies in the final as a unit with just 22.
 
Junior Jay Shero and senior Carter Lewis both totaled 146 in the opening two rounds of the event to sit in a tie for 33^rd place. Shero posted rounds of 72-74 while Lewis shot 73 in both rounds.
 
Senior Seth Campbell shot rounds of 73-75 for a 148 total and junior Carson Wray a pair of 75's to total a 150. Campbell sits in a tie for 45^th place and Wray in a tie for 58^th place.
 
UT Tyler will carry an overnight lead on multiple nationally-ranked teams in what is a jam packed leaderboard. Just seven shots separate 14^th place from seven place on the team leaderboard.
 
Tuesday's third and final round will get started with an 8 a.m. local time shotgun start.