SILVIS, IL. – The No.10-ranked UBC Thunderbirds (+16) held on to the ninth spot on the leaderboard after firing a solid +9 in the second round of the NAIA Championship on Thursday.
The T-Birds began the tournament by shooting +7 over a two-day first round, broken up by a massive weather delay, and stayed in that same range while getting in a complete 18 on day three. The event has been shortened from four to three rounds because TPC Deere Run was largely unplayable on Tuesday, meaning that the national champion will be decided on Friday afternoon after just 54 holes.
UBC, which last won the tournament in 2023, sits 15 strokes back of No.4-ranked Lindsey Wilson (+1), which climbed from third to first after carding a combined -2 on Thursday. The T-Birds are tied for ninth with two other schools, No.8-ranked MidAmerican Nazarene and No.21-ranked William Woods, while the trio sits just one stroke back of No.6-ranked Texas Wesleyan (+15) for eighth.
Thursday was cutdown day at the event, with the bottom 14 teams of the 29-team field eliminated. The only other Canadian school in the tournament, the No.50-ranked Victoria Vikes, managed to move on to Friday as well by hitting the cut line exactly at +21.
Individually, Aidan Schumer (E) continues to lead the way for the blue and gold, now sitting in 16
th after shooting a 74 (+3) in round two. Dylan MacDonald (+4) moved up into a tie with John Paul Kahlert (+4) for second on the team and 42
nd in the tournament by carding a UBC-best score of 71 (E) on Thursday, climbing 21 places on the leaderboard in the process. Captain Mackenzie Bickell (+8) rounded out the team total with a second straight round of 75 (+8) to put him in 80
th, almost exactly in the middle of the 157-player field.
The first T-Bird will hit the tee for the final round of the NAIA Championship at 6:40 a.m. (PT) on Friday, with the rest of the team following in 10-minute intervals.
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