Roman Robledo Leads Houston Charge at Conference USA Championships

Monday, April 22

Texarkana, Ark. (Texarkana Country Club)

All Day

University of Houston

Conference USA Championships

Roman Robledo Leads Houston Charge at Conference USA Championships

4/22/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf

April 22, 2013

Live Scoring \| Second-Round Results \| Round 3 Tee Times Season Stats

Team		Rounds				Score
		1	2	3	F
T1.	Houston	286	280		566	-10
T1.	#20 SMU	278	288		566	-10
3.	#37 UCF	285	291		576	E
4.	UAB	296	286		582	+6
5.	Marshall	292	291		583	+7
6.	UTEP	289	298		587	+11
7.	#43 Tulsa	297	291		588	+12
8.	Memphis	291	303		594	+18
T9.	Southern Miss	294	302		596	+20
T9.	East Carolina	298	298		596	+20
11.	Rice	298	300		598	+22
12.	Old Dominion	299	300		599	+23

Houston Leaders
		1	2	3	F
2.	Roman Robledo	72	65		137	-7
T3.	Curtis Reed	68	72		140	-4
T7.	Vincent Martino	72	71		143	E
T22.	Wesley McClain	75	72		147	+3
T22.	Kyle Pilgrim	74	73		147	+3

Overall Leaders
		1	2	3	F
1.	Bryson Dechambeau SMU	68	68		136	-8
2.	Roman Robledo Houston	72	65		137	-7
T3.	Curtis Reed Houston	68	72		140	-4
T3.	Grant Milner Memphis	69	71		140	-4
5.	Mario Clemens SMU	68	73		141	-3

TEXARKANA, Ark. - University of Houston sophomore Roman Robledo drained seven birdies during a bogey-free round on the way to an impressive 65 at the Conference USA Championships Second Round on Monday afternoon at Texarkana Country Club.

Robledo, who was a 2012 C-USA Championships All-Tournament Team member, opened his second round with back-to-back birdies and played spectacularly for the rest of the day to move into second place with a score of 137, one stroke behind SMU's Bryson Dechambeau.

Finishing with three birdies on his front nine, the Harlingen, Texas, native birdied two of the first three holes on his back nine and then capped his day with birdies on the final two holes. On his final shot of the day on No. 18, Robledo punctuated his round with a fist-pumping, 40-foot birdie that moved the Cougars into a share of the team lead with No. 20 SMU.

On the team leaderboard, the Cougars bettered their First Round score by six strokes and posted Monday's lowest team round of the day at 8-under-par 280 to tie with SMU with a two-day total of 566. Houston is looking for its first team and individual C-USA titles since the Cougars and then-freshman Brad McIntosh swept the 2001 event.

"Today was a great round and we got off to a much better start. We talked to our guys about staying in the round no matter what is going on," director of golf Jonathan Dismuke said. "You never know what is going to happen, but you have to hang around and we did a much better job of that and made a few putts.

"We did a better job of putting the ball in the right spots. Yesterday, we put the ball in some tough spots, and out here, that is the biggest part of this course. There is not a lot of trouble on this course with the exception of their green complexes and where they cut the holes," Dismuke said. "If you are in position to make scores, you play well. If you are out of positions, it's very difficult to make pars. Our guys did a good job of getting the ball in the right spots early."

Robledo became only the 15th player in school history to shoot 65 or better in any tournament and posted the Cougars' lowest round since junior James Ross finished with a 64 in the second round at the Royal Oaks Intercollegiate on Oct. 31, 2011.

He also joined Tray Tyner as the only Cougars to shoot a 65 at any conference postseason tournament. Tyner accomplished that feat in the Second Round at the Southwest Conference Championships on April 17, 1987.

"Roman is in the upper echelon with his physical abilities, and today showed that. He hits the ball too well and he has so much distance," Dismuke said. "When he has control of the ball with his irons and makes putts, he is going to shoot nice scores, and he did that."

Robledo was one of three Cougars among the top-10 individual leaders following the Second Round. Junior Curtis Reed posted three birdies on his front nine and overcame a challenging back nine to post an even-par 72 and stand in a tie for third at 140.

Competing in his first Conference USA Championships, freshman Vincent Martino overcame a slow start to post a 1-under-par 71 and tie for seventh at 143. The Southlake, Texas, native bogeyed three of his first four holes but rallied and eventually birdied two of his final three holes to cap his day.

Junior Wesley McClain played steady throughout Monday's round with an even-par 72 and was tied for 22nd at 147 with teammate Kyle Pilgrim, who birdied his final two holes to end the day with a 73.

UP NEXT
The Final Round tees off at 8 a.m., Tuesday. Fans can follow live scoring at GolfStat.com by following the appropriate links or by clicking here.

Houston is paired with UCF and SMU in Tuesday's Final Round and will tee off No. 1. Pilgrim will start the Cougars' round at 8:50 a.m., Tuesday, with McClain (9 a.m.), Martino (9:10 a.m.), Reed (9:20 a.m.) and Robledo (9:20 a.m.) to follow.

"It's more about us doing the things that got us to this point. There aren't any secrets. We have been around the lead some this year and played well. Tuesday's biggest challenge is focusing on us, and if we do that, we will be fine.

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