The Incarnate Word men's golf team is one round away from a Southland Conference championship as the Cardinals sit four strokes clear of UT Rio Grande Valley after two rounds at Comanche Trace.

Incarnate Word did not match their blistering start from yesterday when the first round resumed at 10 a.m., but they still held a team score of seven-under-par through nine holes. The back nine tested the Cardinals and while they were still the leaders of the championship at the conclusion of round one, they were only up two strokes at five-over-par as a team.

The Cardinals had just enough time to make the necessary adjustments that plagued them over the final nine holes of the first round and it paid dividends, as three of the five golfers on the course were under par on the front nine of round two. They would go on to shoot seven-under-par in round two, with four-of-five golfers shooting even par or better, moving to two-under for the championship.

Joel Talusen was the individual leader after round one with a four-under, 68, but he opened his second round with bogeys on two of his first three holes. Talusen answered with four-straight birdies and birdies in six of his next seven holes to get his score to eight-under for the tournament. He added a birdie on eighteen to conclude his five-under, 67, and enters the final day in first place at nine-under-par.

Rhys Nicholas is in seventh place at one-over for the championship, carding an even-par, 72, after an opening round one-over, 73. Thomas Chalk was the biggest mover of the day for Incarnate Word, jumping from 32nd after round one to tied for 14th heading into the final day of play. He's tied with Francisco Taboada, with both golfers sitting at four-over for the championship.

Chalk's two rounds were near opposites of each other as he was six-over for the first round, carding five bogeys alone on the back nine, but came back to post a two-under, 70, in the second round. His only blemish in the second round was a double bogey on hole five, but he countered that with a string of three-straight birdies in the middle of his round to get back into the red.

Taboada was two-under on the front nine of round one, but he finished the first round at four-over-par. In the second round, he matched his three bogeys with three birdies to card an even-par, 72.

The Cardinals take their four-stroke lead into the final round of the Southland Conference Championship, which concludes tomorrow at Comanche Trace. Incarnate Word golfers have tee times starting at 11:45 a.m. and run through 12:12 p.m.