Results
 
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – After a rough opening day at the Little Rock Invitational, the Missouri State men's golf team will focus its attention on a strong finish over the event's final 18 holes on Tuesday.
 
The Bears find themselves looking up at the rest of the field after the first 36 holes, firing rounds of 307 and 297 Monday at the par-72 Founders Course at Chenal Country Club here. MSU's 604 total is 28 over par and puts coach Neal Stafford's squad in 14^th place.
 
Even though 10 of Missouri State's 12 individual rounds Monday were in the 70's, the highlight was J.P Lavalle (So., The Woodlands, Texas) who improved on a first-round 77 with an even-par 72 score in his second-round performance. Lavalle sits tied for 50^th in the field of 86 players at the event.

"It certainly was not the day we had envisioned going in, but we did rebound and play quite a bit better in the afternoon," said Stafford. "It was really good to see J.P. put together a solid, even-par second round.  We'll learn from today and hopefully finish strong tomorrow in our final round of the fall schedule."

Fellow Bears Crimson Callahan (74-76—150) and Max Kreikemeier (77-74—151) are just behind Lavalle with 18 to play, tied for 56^th and 60^th places, respectively. Both from Chesterfield, Mo., Kreikemeier (72.9) and Callahan (73.1) led MSU in scoring last season.
 
Arkansas State (272-281—553) leads the 14-team field, ahead of host Little Rock (285-274—559) and UT Arlington (279-282—561).  Individually, UT Arlington's Zach Cole (68-67—135) is the overall leader two-thirds of the way through the event, a stroke ahead of Louisiana-Monroe standout Guillaume Fanonnel (69-67—136).
 
The final 18 holes of the tournament will commence Tuesday at 9 a.m. with a shotgun start.