SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships without Buddy Alexander’s Florida Gators is like, well, a day without sunshine.
For the 22nd time in Alexander’s 23 years as head coach in Gainesville, Florida is off to the NCAA Championship Finals after finishing third in the Central Regional Saturday at the University of Notre Dame’s Warren Golf Course.
The Gators, who seemed to be struggling midway through the second round before it was suspended by rain and lightning on Friday, got themselves back on track Saturday morning when completing the second round and then played steady golf in the third round on the par-70, 7,023-yard Ben Crenshaw-Bill Coore design.
When they were done, the Gators shot a 1-under-par 279 round for a three-day total of 2-under-par 838 that trailed only regional champion Stanford (10-under 830) and runner-up Florida State (6-under 834). The Gators were a shot better than Duke, which closed with a 10-under 270 round, and SEC rival Louisiana State (7-over 847) took the fifth team spot from among the 14 teams in the regional.
The five schools will join 25 others from five other regionals at this year’s championship finals June 2-5 at the Honors Course, a Pete Dye design in Ooltewah, Tenn., near Chattanooga. Also qualifying Saturday as an individual in the finals field was Virginia Tech’s Marshall Bailey.
“To finish in third wasn’t exactly what we wanted but we live to see another day,” Alexander said. “By far the biggest and best thing was that we were able to finish off the second round as we did. It gave us a cushion going into the final round that we didn’t have last night. That was a big part of our success today. It was an interesting week of ebbs and flows but I think we played solid for the most part. We are happy to be advancing to the next round.”
All but three of the 14 teams competing in South Bend were forced to conclude their second round on Saturday morning after inclement weather suspended play on Friday evening. Florida finished its second round with an even-par 280 after ending play Friday at 4-over-par as a team.
Freshman Phillip Choi made his NCAA postseason debut a successful one by finishing tied for 11th at 1-under-par 209 with a closing 2-over-par 72. Choi played five holes to finish his second round and finished well to shoot a 2-under 68.
Finishing a shot behind Choi was senior Tim McKenney, who finished the second round with an even-par 70 round and then shot a 2-under-par 68 for a three-round total of even-par 210. At one point thanks to his second eagle of the tournament (at No. 5), McKenney was 3-under-par on his round. But he gave those strokes back with bogeys at 11, 12 and 13 before back-to-back birdies on 16 and 17 closed out his day. That left him tied for 19th.
Fellow senior Tyson Alexander also finished with a 2-under-par 68 after finishing his second round at 3-over 73. He finished at 1-over-par 211, tied for 22nd place. Junior Bank Vongvanij and redshirt junior Andres Echavarria tied for 32nd place with their 4-over-par 214 totals. Vongvanij shot 72 after finishing off his second round at 74. Echavarria shot 69 in the second round and concluded with a 71.
Stanford finished its wire-to-wire victory by shooting 274 in the final round. The Cardinal had three golfers finish 4-6 – David Chung, Steve Ziegler and Sihwan Kim. Florida State, led by medalist Drew Kittelson’s 204 and runner-up Wesley Graham’s 205, closed with a final round of 275.
NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS
CENTRAL REGIONAL / Warren Golf Course (7,023 yards, par 70) / University of Notre Dame / South Bend, Ind. / Saturday, May 22 third round
TEAM SCORES
Qualfying for NCAA Finals June 1-5 at The Honors Course, Chattanooga, Tenn.
1. (2) STANFORD 830 (277-279-274) (-10)
4. David Chung 206 (67-70-69) (-4); 5. Steve Ziegler 207 (71-67-69) (-3); T6. Sihwan Kim 208 (69-69-70) (-2); T19. Andrew Yun 210 (71-73-66) (E); T39. Joseph Bramlett 216 (70-74-72) (+6)
2. (15) FLORIDA STATE 834 (283-276-275) (-6)
1. Drew Kittleson 204 (69-67-68) (-6); T2. Wesley Graham 205 (67-68-70) (-5); T11. Michael Hebert 209 (72-73-64) (-1); T39. Brooks Koepka 216 (75-68-73) (+6); T66. Seath Lauer 227 (77-73-77) (+17)
3. (11) FLORIDA 838 (279-280-279) (-2)
T11. Phillip Choi 209 (69-68-72) (-1); T19. Tim McKenney 210 (72-70-68) (E); T22. Tyson Alexander 211 (70-73-68) (+1); T32. Bank Vongvanij 214 (68-74-72) (+4); T32. Andres Echavarria 214 (74-69-71) (+4)
4. (23) DUKE 839 (292-277-270) (-1)
T2. Adam Long 205 (70-70-65) (-5); T6. Brinson Paolini 208 (73-70-65) (-2); T22. Spencer Anderson 211 (75-67-69) (+1); T46. Wes Roach 218 (77-70-71) (+8); T63. Julian Suri 225 (74-72-79) (+15)
5. (26) LOUISIANA STATE 847 (280-289-278) (+7)
T6. Andrew Loupe 208 (70-70-68) (-2); T22. John Peterson 211 (67-74-70) (+1); T32. Sang Yi 214 (70-73-71) (+4); T32. Austin Gutgsell 214 (73-72-69) (+4); T59. Clayton Rotz 224 (74-74-76) (+14)
Did not qualify
T6. NORTHWESTERN 848 (284-279-285) (+8)
T11. David Lipsky 209 (73-67-69) (-1); T22. Eric Chun 211 (71-68-72) (+1); T22. Josh Dupont 211 (67-72-72) (+1); T52. Jonathan Bowers 220 (73-75-72) (+10); T52. Sam Chien 220 (75-72-73) (+10)
T6. (46) MICHIGAN 848 (285-281-282) (+8)
T6. Matt Thompson 208 (71-65-72) (-2); T19. Alexander Sitompul 210 (66-75-69) (E); T28. Lion Kim 213 (74-69-70) (+3); T48. Rahul Bakshi 219 (74-74-71) (+9); T66. Jack Schultz 227 (75-73-79) (+17)
T6. (38) IOWA 848 (288-279-281) (+8)
T11. Brad Hopfinger 209 (71-68-70) (-1); T22. Chris Brant 211 (71-68-72) (+1); T43. Vince India 217 (71-71-75) (+7); T46. Barrett Kelpin 218 (77-72-69) (+8); T66. Brad George 227 (75-82-70) (+17)
9. INDIANA 850 (285-286-279) (+10)
T11. David Erdy 209 (69-70-70) (-1); T28. Chase Wright 213 (68-75-70) (+3); T32. Alex Martin 214 (76-71-67) (+4); T43. Brant Peaper 217 (73-70-74) (+7); T59. Corey Ziedonis 224 (75-77-72) (+14)
10. VIRGINIA TECH 855 (284-288-283) (+15)
T6. Marshall Bailey 208 (72-70-66) (-2); T28. Blake Redmond 213 (70-72-71) (+3); T32. Garland Green 214 (72-74-68) (+4); T57. Mikey Moyers 223 (70-75-78) (+13); T59. Jacob Everts 224 (73-72-70) (+14)
11. (36) NORTH CAROLINA STATE 859 (289-283-287) (+19)
T11. Matt Hill 209 (69-70-70) (-1); T28. Mitchell Sutton 213 (70-74-69) (+3); T32. Adam Hogue 214 (73-69-72) (+4); T57. Mark McMillen 223 (77-70-76) (+13); T71. Brad Revell 231 (78-77-76) (+21)
12. DETROIT MERCY 871 (297-289-285) (+31)
T43. Britt Pronk 217 (76-71-70) (+7); T48. David Byrne 219 (78-71-70) (+9); T52. Simon Reyers 220 (73-75-72) (+10); 56. Jeff Clarridge 221 (76-72-73) (+11); 70. Brian Sparks 229 (72-78-79) (+19)
13. MURRAY STATE 879 (297-295-287) (+39)
T39. Jared Wolfe 216 (73-73-70) (+6); T52. Cameron Carrico 220 (76-76-68) (+10); T59. Nick Newcomb 224 (78-72-74) (+14); Chris Griffin 225 (76-74-75) (+15); T66. Patrick Newcomb 227 (72-76-79) (+17)
14. ST. FRANCIS, PA. 910 (319-304-287) (+70)
T48. Tyler Straub 219 (77-71-71) (+9); 65. Joey Amelia 226 (78-76-72) (+16); 73. Adam Simpson 232 (80-78-74) (+22); 74. Vincent Adams 233 (84-79-70) (+23); 75. Ryan Coccagna 244 (85-81-78) (+34)
INDIVIDUALS
1. Drew Kittleson (Florida State) 69-67-68—204 (-6)
T2. Adam Long (Duke) 70-70-65—205 (-5)
Wesley Graham (Florida State) 67-68-70—205 (-5)
4. David Chung (Stanford) 67-70-69—206 (-4)
5. Steve Ziegler (Stanford) 71-67-69—207 (-3)
T6. Matt Thompson (Michigan) 71-65-72—208 (-2)
q-Marshall Bailey (Virginia Tech) 72-70-66—208 (-2)
Brinson Paolini (Duke) 73-70-66—208 (-2)
Andrew Loupe (Louisiana State) 70-70-68—208 (-2)
Sihwan Kim (Stanford) 69-69-70—208 (-2)
T11. David Erdy (Indiana) 69-70-70—209 (-1)
David Lipsky (Northwestern) 73-67-69—209 (-1)
Brad Hopfinger (Iowa) 71-68-70—209 (-1)
Michael Hebert (Florida State) 72-73-64—209 (-1)
Matt Hill (North Carolina State) 69-70-70—209 (-1)
Phillip Choi (Florida) 69-68-72—209 (-1)
Jack Newman (Michigan State) 72-68-69—209 (-1)
Ben Pisani (Minnesota) 71-68-70—209 (-1)
T19. Andrew Yun (Stanford) 71-73-66—210 (E)
Alexander Sitompul (Michigan) 66-75-69—210 (E)
Tim McKenney (Florida) 72-70-68—210 (E)
q-won playoff from Michigan’s Matt Thompson with bogey on the first sudden-death hole to win individual spot from the Central Regional in the NCAA Finals field.
EAST REGIONAL / The Course at Yale (6,749 yards, par 70) / Yale University / New Haven, Conn. / Saturday, May 22 qualifiers
Teams: 1. (tie) (7) Texas 835 (274-281-280) and (nr) Kent State 835 (277-278-280) (-5); 3. (6) UCLA 836 (282-281-273) (-4); 4. (nr) Penn State 837 (277-283-277) (-3); 5. (19) Virginia 843 (282-283-278) (+3). Just missing: (32) East Tennessee State 844, (47) Charlotte 844, (17) South Carolina (846), (29) Alabama 850.
Individual: Rhys Enoch (East Tennessee State) 203 (65-68-70) (-7).
SOUTH CENTRAL REGIONAL / Traditions Golf Club (7,146 yards, par 72) / Bryan, Texas / Texas A&M University / Saturday, May 22 qualifiers
Teams: 1. (10) Texas Tech 851 (282-284-285) (-13); 2. (3) Texas A&M 852 (277-288-287) (-12); 3. (25) Texas Christian 858 (277-291-290) (-6); 4. (22) North Florida 859 (280-298-281) (-5); 5. (nr) Baylor 869 (291-289-289) (+5) (won playoff). Just missing: (16) Georgia 869 (294-291-284) (+5) (lost playoff); (35) Pepperdine 877.
Individual: 1. Russell Henley (Georgia) 207 (71-67-69) (-9).
SOUTHEAST REGIONAL / Capital City Club, Crabapple Golf Club (7,182 yards, par 70) / Woodstock, Ga. / Georgia Institute of Technology / May 22 qualifiers
Teams: 1. (4) Oklahoma State 841 (282-282-277) (+1); 2. (20) Clemson 843 (283-278-282) (+3); 3. (14) Georgia Tech 845 (287-286-272) (+5); 4. (tie) (9) Arizona State 863 (290-288-285) (+23) and (nr) Georgia Southern 863 (288-293-282) (+23). Just missing: (nr) Brigham Young 864 (+24); (nr) South Alabama 866 (+26); (28) Arkansas 867 (+27); (33) Wake Forest 869 (+29); (40) Mississippi 873 (+33).
Individual: T3. Robbie Fillmore (Brigham Young) 209 (68-69-72) (-1).
SOUTHWEST REGIONAL / Carlton Oaks Golf Club (7,360 yards, par 72) / Santee, Calif. / San Diego State University / May 22 qualifiers
Teams: 1. (1) Oregon 870 (294-290-286) (+6); 2. (13) Augusta State 880 (303-286-291) (+16); 3. (tie) (34) California 886 (294-292-300) (+22), (24) Tennessee 886 (294-296-296) (+22) and (12) UNLV 886 (294-294-298) (+22). Just missing: (45) UCF 893 (+29).
Individual: 1. Nick Delio (CSU-Northridge) 213 (71-69-73) (-3).
NORTHWEST REGIONAL / Gold Mountain Golf Club (7,104 yards, par 72) / Bremerton, Wash. / University of Washington / May 22 qualifiers
Teams: 1. (5) Washington 844 (286-283-275) (-20); 2. (8) Southern California 873 (297-289-287) (+9); 3. (27) San Diego 874 (294-292-288) (+10); 4. (21) Oregon State (876) (291-296-289) (+12); 5. (18) Illinois 877 (293-292-292) (+13). Just missing: (41) Middle Tennessee State 879 (+15), (nr) Eastern Michigan 880 (+16), (31) Colorado State 881 (+17).
Individual: T3. (25) Espen Kofstad (Denver) 211 (69-71-71) (-5).