FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The South Dakota men's golf team shot the second-best round in program history on Monday and jumped eight spots in the standings to be tied for third place after two rounds at the Ram Masters Invitational hosted by Colorado State.
 
South Dakota shot an opening round 292 but followed with a 4-under-par 276 in the second round to move from a tie for 11^th position to a tie for third. The round follows the Coyotes' 271 from last season's Itani Quality Homes Collegiate in Pullman, Washington, as the top two rounds for the program in the Division I-era.
 
The Coyotes had three golfers shoot under par in the second round with a fourth shooting even par as part of the 276. Junior Matt Tolan improved by five shots from the first round to shoot a 2-under-par 68. With 141 strokes for the day, Tolan is tied for 16^th. Just one stroke behind is senior Tommy Vining with 142 shots. He shot a 1-under-par 69 in the second round to combine with his first-round 73.
 
Sophomore Tate Arends also shot a 69 in the second round and is tied for 27^th with 143 total strokes. Freshman Ben Hicks, making his Coyote debut, tallied scores of 75 and 70 over the two rounds and is tied for the 42^nd position with 145 strokes. Sophomore Jacob Michel sits in a tie for 49^th place with 146 strokes.
 
Arends and Tolan each carded a pair of eagles on Monday. Vining ranks fifth in the 96-player field with 27 pars. South Dakota leads the field of 17 teams with an average of 4.53 strokes on par five holes.
 
Host Colorado State leads the field with 547 strokes at 13-under-par. Illinois State is in second place with 558 strokes while the Coyotes are tied with Northern Colorado at 568 strokes.
 
The final round gets underway at 9 a.m. (CDT) Tuesday at Fort Collins Country Club.