Late afternoon lightning suspended NCAA Men's Golf Championship third round play on the Kampen Course at Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex Friday.  UC Irvine, currently tied for 17th place with Middle Tennessee State, must erase a four-shot deficit on Auburn and Texas A&M Saturday morning to finish among the top 15 and make the cut for final round play on Saturday afternoon.

Fifteen of the 30 competing teams concluded their third rounds before the weather conditions suspended play.  UCI stood at 49-over par when the course was cleared.  Anteater golfers have anywhere from four to seven holes left to play.  At 45-over, Texas A&M already has completed its round while Auburn still has three holes to play.

UC Irvine junior Sean Shahi and sophomore John Chin are both 1-over par through 12 and 13 holes, respectively.  Junior Tim Cha stands at 3-over after 11 holes while senior Kenny Kim, through 14 holes, is also at 3-over.  Freshman Max Greil is 14-over after completing 14 holes.

The Anteaters have made up 10 spots in the standings since landing in 27th place after the first 18 holes of play.

Play will resume at 4:00 a.m. (PDT) for teams needing to complete the third round. The final round will begin at 8:00 a.m. (PDT) for the 15 teams that finish above the cut line.

UCLA is in first place at 24-over 888 after completing its third round. USC and Clemson are tied for second place at 27-over 891, and both teams also have concluded their third rounds. UCLA's Kevin Chappell is the individual leader at 6-under 210 after carding a 68 on Friday.