Sophomore Adam Melliere (Zionsville, Ind. / Zionsville) equaled the best round of his career, leading the Valparaiso University men's golf team on Tuesday at the Golfweek/Stifel Spring Challenge, held at the par-72, 6970-yard True Blue Golf Course in Pawleys Island, S.C. The final round of the three-day event will occur on Wednesday.  
 
How It Happened

• Melliere posted a 68 (-4) out of the No. 5 spot in the lineup, improving his second-round performance by nine strokes. He previously turned in a 68 in the third round of the Mobile Bay Intercollegiate, but that was a par-71 course. The four strokes under tied his personal best in the second round of last year's MVC Championship.
• Melliere had just one bogey in the second round and sprinkled in five birdies. He is tied for 41^st in a 93-player field at 145 (+1).
• Senior Anthony Delisanti (Sanborn, N.Y. / Niagara Wheatfield) posted a 72 (E) on Tuesday and owns a 36-hole score of 137 (-7). He is tied for fifth on the player leaderboard, five strokes behind Jacksonville State's Ryley Heath for the top spot.
• The team's third-best Round-2 score was a 75 from redshirt senior Sam Schmidt (College Station, Texas / College Station [South Nazarene]), who is also third on the team for the tournament at 147.
• Valpo carded a 291 (+3) as a team, finishing the day at 577 (+1) for the tournament, in 11^th of 17. Jacksonville State holds the top spot at 557.

Thoughts from Head Coach Dave Gring
"Our execution wasn't as sharp today with us only making 12 birdies and a handful of double-bogeys. Seven of our 12 birdies were on the Par 5s and we played the Par 3s at seven over, which really hurt our team score. Our biggest challenge was still getting our approach shots closer to the hole for legitimate birdie opportunities. It's not easy to make 15', 20' and 25' putts for birdie.  We only had one of our players with a positive strokes gained approach stat line, so we're going to have to be more sharp in this category tomorrow."
 
"Adam had a tremendous bounce-back round today and I was super excited to see that type of score from the No. 5 spot in our lineup. Adam had his best ball-striking day of the year, hitting 17 out of 18 greens and 13 out of 13 fairways in regulation. His strokes gained driving and approach were both positive and he really knocked a lot of shots close to the hole today. As a team, we are aspiring to have numerous players in our lineup under par for a given round and that's simply what we need to win tournaments and championships."
 
Up Next
The tournament will conclude on Wednesday with Round 3 in Myrtle Beach. A link to live scoring is available on ValpoAthletics.com.