Sign Up For Free Email Updates

By TOM ZEBOLD

USF Senior Writer

TAMPA - A healthier Branden Collins is hanging around near the top of the leader board at the Gary Koch Invitational.

Collins, one of USF's two star freshmen, shot a 3 under through 36 holes Saturday to get into a tie for fifth place entering Sunday's final round at the Old Memorial Golf Club. Joey Petronio is the event leader at 6 under for No. 17 North Florida, which leads the event with a 17-under score and has the top three players on the leader board.

The Bulls as a whole are in 10^th place out of 15 teams and got a standout performance from Collins, who had been hampered by an illness in the past two events. The Tallahassee native has posted two finishes in the top 25 this season and he's well on his way for another after posting seven birdies on Saturday.

"He's still not 100 percent and to go around and do what he did today was really impressive," USF head coach Chris Malloy said. "He showed a lot of guts to really grind out two great rounds of golf."

Collins came in with a 73 average before firing a 70 and 71 on a course that gets more difficult as a round progresses. He carded a bogey on the par-5 13^th hole in the second round, but regrouped and went even par to finish strong against a star-studded field that includes players from No. 6 Auburn, No. 8 Alabama, No. 11 Georgia Tech, No. 18 Virginia, No. 23 FSU and No. 24 Florida.

"He's really starting to peak and play some great golf," Malloy said.

Not every Bull had success near the end of rounds and Malloy is looking for his players to finish strong Sunday in the final round before the Big East Championship takes place April 28-May 1 in Orlando.

"I just want them to go out and have a solid round of golf and take some momentum into our conference championship," Malloy said. "We have a lot of young guys on this team. They're being throwing in a big boy environment with some very quality golf teams and they need to go out there, learn from it and be better."

Follow the Bulls during Sunday's final round online at Golfstat.com.

USF Player Scores