TOLEDO, Ohio – When they look back on the 112th NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships, the Florida Gators will grimace whenever they remember their first-round performance at the Inverness Club.
Coach Buddy Alexander’s team just could not make up enough ground after opening with a 26-over 310 in Tuesday’s opening round at the par-71, 7,255-yard course originally designed by Donald Ross. Florida did follow with rounds of 287 and 293 for a three-round total of 38-over 890, 21 shots behind Texas A&M and Georgia, the team’s tied for the seventh.
“We gave chase for a while today,” said Alexander. “We played pretty well for about 12 holes. We started on the easy nine and needed to have a great start and we did, then the wheels kind of came off at the end of the day when we got to the really hard stretch of holes. We ran into a wall at the end of the round, and it was an unfortunate way to end the season.”
The Gators were 41 strokes behind Oklahoma State, which finished stroke play with a 3-under-par 849, 13 shots ahead of Arizona State, which was three shots up on Southern California, Arkansas and Washington. Michigan was sixth at 868, a shot ahead of Texas A&M and Georgia.
Those eight teams go into match play Friday. Oklahoma State and Georgia begin their quarterfinal match at 7 a.m. Arkansas meets Washington beginning at 7:45, followed by Arizona State and Texas A&M at 8:30 and Southern California and Michigan at 9:15. Winners come back in the afternoon for the semifinals. The championship match will be played Saturday at 10 a.m.
Florida was 19th out of the 30 teams competing, and six of those teams – Stanford, Wake Forest, Virginia, Ohio State, Texas and Arizona – still needed to finish because of the backlog from the second-round rain delay.
Three seniors ended their career for Florida Thursday. Billy Horschel ended his collegiate career with a three-day total of 217 (+4) after a final round 73 (+2). Will Strickler shot a third-round 75 (+4) and finished at 13-over par 226. Toby Ragland had his best round of the week with a three-over 74. He totaled 232 (+19) for the tournament.
“It was obviously not the season ending performance that we wanted,” Alexander continued. “I’m proud of these guys, especially the three seniors in this group that we’ll miss. It was a lot of fun to have them. They’re great kids, and I’ll hurt for them and I just wish we’d have had a little more success for them, because they’ve worked hard.”
Junior Tyson Alexander had the team’s best round of the day with a one-over 72. Fellow junior Tim McKenney shot two-over par 73. Alexander totaled 224 (+11) for the tournament while McKenney was just one shot behind at 225 (+12).
North Carolina State sophomore Matt Hill captured medalist honors with a six-under par 207 and carded two-under par 69s in each of his three rounds. It was his eighth tournament title of the year.
NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS
TOLEDO, Ohio – Results from the third round of the 112th NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships at the par-71, 7,255-yard Inverness Club. Six teams did not finish their rounds Thursday and will complete them Friday before the matches begin.
TEAM
1. OKLAHOMA STATE (-3) 849 (288-280-281) Rickie Fowler 72-70-68—210, Morgan Hoffmann 72-69-71—212, Peter Uihlein 73-72-70—215, Kevin Tway 74-71-72—217, Trent Leon 71-70-78—219.
2. ARIZONA STATE (+10) 862 (294-281-287) Jesper Kennegard 72-69-72—213, Scott Pinckney 73-67-74—214, Chan Kim 75-71-70—216, Knut Borsheim 74-79-71—224, Stephan Gross 76-74-79—229.
T3. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (+13) 865 (305-281-279) Tom Glissmeyer 74-70-66—210, Matthew Giles 74-70-74—218, Tim Sluiter 79-70-70—219, Ryan Linton 81-71-69—221, Steve Lim 78-72-74—224.
T3. WASHINGTON (+13) 865 (293-286-286) Nick Taylor 70-70-73—213, Richard Lee 76-71-69—216, Darren Wallace 72-72-72—216, Chris Killmer 75-73-72—220, Tze Huang Choo 77-76-76—229.
T3. ARKANSAS (+13) 865 (297-283-285) David Lingmerth 75-72-69—216, Ethan Tracy 76-68-73—217, Andrew Landry 75-70-74—219, Jamie Marshall 71-78-71—220, Jason Cuthbertson 77-73-72—222.
6. MICHIGAN (+16) 868 (296-285-287) Alexander Sitompul 72-69-70—211, Lion Kim 72-68-74—214, Matt Thompson 75-74-70—219, Bill Rankin 77-74-73—224, Nick Pumford 81-75-81—237.
T7. TEXAS A&M (+17) 869 (298-276-295) Conrad Shindler 75-68-71—214, Bronson Burgoon 72-67-76—215, John Hurley 75-69-74—218, Andrea Pavan 76-72-74—222, Matt Van Zandt 76-76-77—229.
T7. GEORGIA (+17) 869 (288-285-296) Brian Harman 71-71-71—213, Russell Henley 71-67-75—213, Harris English 73-74-76—223, Hudson Swafford 73-78-75—226, Adam Mitchell 79-73-75—227.
Did not qualify
9. TEXAS CHRISTIAN (+21) 873 (299-285-289) Tom Hoge 70-70-70—210, James Sacheck 75-73-70—218, Johan de Beer 77-71-77—225, Scott Roudebush 82-73-72—227, Travis Woolf 77-71-79—227.
T10. GEORGIA TECH (+22) 874 (301-285-288) Cameron Tringale 74-67-74—215, David Dragoo 79-72-68—219, Chesson Hadley 72-72-76—220, John Tyler Griffin 76-74-72—222, James White 79-77-74—230.
T10. UCF (+22) 874 (300-283-291) Blayne Barber 75-69-68—212, David Johnson 78-72-70—220, Simon Ward 71-78-75—224, Brad Schneider 77-67-80—224, Devin Spies 77-75-78—230.
12. TENNESSE (+23) 875 (294-289-292) David Holmes 70-71-73—214, Chris Paisley 75-73-72—220, Darren Renwick 76-73-72—221, Robin Wingardh 73-72-76—221, Garrick Porteous 77-82-75—234.
13. SAN DIEGO (+25) 877 (293-293-291) Alex Ching 70-68-76—214, Blake Trimble 75-73-71—219, Gunner Wiebe 78-76-69—223, Jason Shano 74-76-75—225, Ian Coffman 74-78-80—232.
14. DUKE (+26) 878 (297-285-296) Clark Klaasen 72-75-71—218, Michael Quagliano 73-67-78—218, Adam Long 73-75-72—220, Matthew Price 79-70-79—228, Wes Roach 81-73-75—229.
15. ALABAMA (+27) 879 (298-288-293) Matthew Swan 73-71-75—219, Matt Hughes 77-71-73—221, Spencer Cole 75-74-73—222, Bud Cauley 87-72-72—231, Hunter Hamrick 73-76-83—232.
16. SOUTH CAROLINA (+33) 885 (305-286-294) Mark Silvers II 74-69-72—215, Wesley Bryan 76-70-73—219, George Bryan IV 76-72-77—225, Patrick Rada 79-77-74—230, Sam Braver 84-75-75—234.
17. IOWA (+34) 887 (301-296-290) Vince India 74-72-73—219, Barrett Kelpin 76-76-71—223, Brad Hopfinger 77-71-75—223, Cole Peevler 74-79-71—224, Chris Brant 80-77-80—237.
18. CHATTANOOGA (+36) 888 (292-297-299) Stephan Jaeger 74-75-73—222, Fredrik Qvicker 71-76-75—222, Derek Rende 73-77-74—224, Ben Rickett 78-71-77—226, Jonathan Hodge 74-75-70—229.
19. FLORIDA (+37) 889 (310-287-292) Billy Horschel 76-68-73—217, Tyson Alexander 77-75-72—224, Tim McKenney 80-72-73—225, Will Strickler 79-72-75—226, Toby Ragland 78-80-74—232.
20. STANFORD (+38) DNF (305-298-DNF) Steve Ziegler 73-69-DNF, Dodge Kemmer 76-79-DNF, Sihwan Kim 77-79-DNF, David Chung 81-78-73—232, Daniel Lim 79-72-DNF.
21. ILLINOIS (+40) 892 (299-291-302) Scott Langley 69-74-72—215, Chris DeForest 77-70-76—223, Luke Guthrie 76-75-76—227, Matt Hoffman 77-73-78—228, Zach Barlow 81-74-78—233.
22. OREGON (+45) 897 (306-293-298) Daniel Miernicki 75-71-73—219, Eugene Wong 75-72-78—225, Andrew Vijarro 78-75-74—227, Isaiah Telles 80-75-73—228, Robbie Ziegler 78-77-78—233.
23. WAKE FOREST (+47) DNF (302-304-DNF) Daniel Meggs 73-75-DNF, Brendan Gielow 77-78-DNF, Dustin Groves 77-75-DNF, Lee Bedford 75-77-DNF, Travis Wadkins 77-77-DNF.
T24. TEXAS TECH (+48) 900 (303-292-305) Chris Ward 75-70-77—222, Garrett Merrell 76-75-74—226, Nils Floren 76-75-75—226, Santiago Rivas 78-72-78—228, Brian Scherer 76-75-84—235.
T24. UCLA (+48) 900 (306-295-299) Gregor Main 77-73-71—221, Erik Flores 80-69-73—222, Philip Francis 70-77-77—224, Alex Kim 81-76-78—235, Connor Driscoll 79-80-78—237.
T26. VIRGINIA (+49) DNF (306-297-DNF) Will Collins 77-76-DNF, Conrad von Borsig 80-72-DNF, Kyle Stough 77-74-DNF, Ben Kohles 75-75-DNF, Bruce Woodall 77-77-76—230.
T26. OHIO STATE (+49) DNF (294-310-DNF) Brad Wright 72-77-DNF, Vaughn Snyder 72-82-DNF, Bo Hoag 77-75-DNF, Brad Smith 76-78-77—231, Michael Cress 74-80-DNF.
28. TEXAS (+51) DNF (308-300-DNF) Lance Lopez 74-72-DNF, Dylan Frittelli 77-73-DNF, Donald Constable 78-77-DNF, Bobby Hudson 87-81-DNF, Charlie Holland 87-81-DNF.
29. ARIZONA (+52) DNF (310-302-DNF) Jonathan Khan 79-74-DNF, Tarquin MacManus 77-75-DNF, Rich Saferian 74-76-DNF, Philip Bagdale 81-77-DNF.
30. NORTHWESTERN (+56) (298-304-306) Eric Chun 75-74-75—224, Jonathan Bowers 69-80-76—225, Josh Dupont 75-80-76—231, Sam Chien 81-72-82—235, David Lipsky 79-78-79—236.
INDIVIDUALS
1. Matt Hill (North Carolina State) 69-69-69—207 (-6)
2. Kyle Stanley (Clemson) 72-71-66—209 (-4)
T3. Rickie Fowler (Oklahoma State) 72-70-68—210 (-3)
T3. Tom Glissmeyer (Southern California) 74-70-66—210 (-3)
T3. Tom Hoge (Texas Christian) 70-70-70—210 (-3)
6. Alexander Sitompul (Michigan) 72-69-70—211 (-2)
T7. Blayne Barber (UCF) 75-69-68—212 (-1)
T7. Morgan Hoffman (Oklahoma State) 72-69-71—212 (-1)
T9. Brian Harman (Georgia) 71-71-71—213 (E)
T9. Russell Henley (Georgia) 71-67-75—213 (E)
T9. Jesper Kennegard (Arizona State) 72-69-72—213 (E)
T9. Nick Taylor (Washington) 70-70-73—213 (E)