Mocs End Up Ninth at NCAA Colorado Regional
Sophomore Steven Fox's five-under par 67 is a new school best in NCAA postseason play
ERIE, Colo.---The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's golf team ended its season Saturday finishing ninth at the NCAA Colorado Regional at Colorado National Golf Club. Chattanooga shot a three-day total of 863, one-under par.
Starting out the day in a tie for eighth and needing to get into the top five to advance to the NCAA Championship, the Mocs did not go down without a fight. They recorded 12 birdies on their first nine holes turning at seven under.
Chattanooga got to eight-under par for the day, minus five for the tourney, on Benni Weilguni's (Langelois, Austria) back-to-back birdies on 17 and 18, his eighth and ninth holes of the day. The Mocs got within two shots of the coveted fifth-place spot held by Clemson at the time.
But it was not meant to be for Chattanooga. UTC dropped four shots on their second nine as the birdie putts stopped falling. Despite the disappointing finish, there were a lot of positives to the final round.
Sophomore Steven Fox (Hendersonville, Tenn.) led the Chattanooga charge with a season-best 67 (-5). He had six birdies and 11 pars with a single bogey on his card. He tied for 44th at three over, 219.
"I'm really happy for Fox," said head coach Mark Guhne. "He was good tee-to-green and rode a hot putter. It was great to see him bounce back from a tough start to the tournament."
Junior Stephan Jaeger (Munich, Germany) was low for the Mocs for the tournament. He navigated the 7,753-yard tract - the longest in NCAA Regional history - at minus one, 215. He shot rounds of 73, 71 and 71 to end up his season at one-under par for his 30 rounds.
Redshirt freshman Chris Robb (Aberdeenshire, Scotland) made the most of his first regional experience. He was second to Jaeger ending up one shot back at level par 216, tying for 24th overall. He was the Mocs low scorer in each of the first two days with a 70 and 69 before recording the drop score today with a 77 (+5).
"Jaeger is Jaeger," Guhne added. "He is just solid every time out. I wish he would have been rewarded a little better for the way he played, but that's golf. I couldn't be happier for him after a great, great junior year.
"I'm very proud of Chris this week," he continued. "He carried us the first two days and really showed what he is capable of. The improvements he has made over the last few events show the potential he has for the next three years."
Weilguni, another redshirt freshman, shot even par today and tied Fox for 44th at three over, 219. True freshman Davis Bunn (Knoxville, Tenn.) ended with a 74 (+2) this afternoon, and tied for 64th at 225.
"Regionals are a great experience," Guhne concluded. "Benni had good moments as did Davis. We learned a lot about ourselves and what we need to work on to get to the level we want to be. We were very close to advancing...it's kind of a sick feeling thinking about it to be honest.
"But I know our best golf is ahead of us."
No. 1 Oklahoma State lapped the field shooting 833, 31-under par. That was 18 shots clear of second-place Colorado State. Northwestern (855), No. 12 Georgia (857) and No. 24 Arizona State (857) rounded out the top five to advance to the NCAA Championship.
The Cowboys' Kevin Tway claimed his third regional medalist honor at 206, 10-under par. He shot rounds of 72, 65 and 69 to win by one over Arizona State's Scott Pinckney at minus nine, 207. OSU's Talor Gooch was third at seven under.
Eagles Cap Off Successful Season at the NCAA Southeast Regional
Blondell finishes tournament in tie for sixth-place
OCALA, Fla. - The Georgia Southern Golf team recorded a 1-over 289 final round on Saturday, May 21st, to cap off its season with an eighth-place finish in the NCAA Southeast Regional. Senior Logan Blondell guided the Eagles to a 4-under 860 team total (285-286-289) by firing a 209 (-7) to finish in a sixth-place tie. Florida, playing host to the 14-team field at the par-72 6,994-yard Golden Ocala Golf Club, won the tournament with an 18-under 846.
"We got off to a rough start today, but I'm really proud of the boys for showing a lot of heart and coming back," said Head Coach Larry Mays. "Our whole grouping got off to a horrible start on the back nine. We recovered and really dug down deep to have chance at the end. We had great performances coming down the stretch and made it close."
The Gators finished six strokes ahead of second place Augusta State (-12). Kennesaw State finished one stroke back of the Jaguars in third place (-11) while N.C. State finished in fourth place at 9-under. Arkansas rounded out the top five at 8-under. The top five teams advance to the NCAA Championships at Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Okla., May 31st-June 5th.
Blondell, who finished runner-up in the 2010 NCAA Southeast Regional, carded a pair of 69s and a 71 to conclude his Georgia Southern career with a top-10 finish in the 2011 regional. The Lakeland, Fla., native started the day battling the back nine and making the turn at 1-over. Blondell's scorecard changed on the front nine with birdies on hole No. 1, 3, 7 and 8 to finish at 3-under.
Hayden Anderson (Knoxville, Tenn.) concluded his freshman campaign with a tie for 14th-place finish (-3), his best of the season. Starting the front nine at 3-over, Anderson quickly lowered his round with a birdie on the par-4 first and third. He also played holes No. 5 and 8 at 1-under each to sign for a 1-under 71.
Lewis Gruber (Tallahassee, Fla.) moved up the individual standings for the second-straight day. The junior scattered six birdies around the course to help him conclude the final round at 1-over. Gruber finished the tournament with a 225 (+9) for a 54th-place tie with Senior Matt Deal (Statesboro, Ga.). Sophomore Florian Sander (Bregenz, Austria) concluded the tournament two strokes back from Gruber and Deal in a 60th-place tie (+11).
Georgia Southern added more pages to the program's record book this season. The Eagles made their third-straight and 10th overall NCAA Regional appearance and won a third Southern Conference Championship.
"Next year we have three guys coming back who have experience," Mays said. "Florian (Sander) now has two postseasons under his belt and Lewis has three years, one at the Division 1 level. Hayden (Anderson) as a freshman brought his best of the year during this postseason, so I'm excited about what the future holds for Georgia Southern Golf."
Wofford's Brazeal Completes NCAA Regional at Virginia Tech
RADFORD, Va. - Wofford's Chandler Brazeal finished the NCAA Regional on the 7,685 yard par-72 Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech with a final round score of 80 (+8) to finish with a total of 239.
Brazeal finished the tournament in 70th place with a 78-81-80--239 (+23).
He opened his final round on hole ten for the second straight day. After starting with two bogeys, Brazeal had a par on 12 and a birdie on 13, his third birdie of the tournament. But he followed with bogeys on 14, 15 and 18 to card a 40 over his first nine holes.
He opened the back nine with a par on hole one. Over the next three holes, he had two double bogeys and a par before finishing the round with five straight pars to earn his final round score of 80.
Brazeal, the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year will end his season with a 73.52 stroke average.
Davidson's Fountain Concludes Play NCAA Men's Golf Virginia Tech Regional
RADFORD, Va. - Davidson freshman Richard Fountain placed in a tie for 35th place at 226, 10-over-par after firing a final-round 81 Saturday in the NCAA Virginia Tech Regional at The Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech.
Fountain entered the final round four stokes out of the lead, but struggled on the back-nine after teeing off on the 10th hole.
No. 16 Duke won the regional title behind an eight-under-par final round to finish at 865, one-over par. No. 4 Georgia Tech placed second at 869 (+4), and was followed by Oklahoma (875), No. 10 Louisiana State and Kent State (893). Those five teams advance to the NCAA National Championship May 31-June 5 at Karsten Creek Golf Course in Stillwater, Okla.
Sebastian Soderberg (Coastal Carolina) fired a final-round, five-under par 67 to tie for second overall and earn the individual NCAA Championship bid as Coastal did not place in the top five as a team.
Oklahoma's Abraham Ancer claimed individual medalist honors on the challenging par-72,7658-yard course by two stokes, finishing at six-under par, 210 (70-71-69).
Fountain was in seventh after the first round at even-par, and in a tie for fifth place after the second round at one-over, but was unable to get the birdies to off set tough breaks to remain at the top of the elite, 75-player field.
The Raleigh, N.C. native battled through though, paring the final four holes and ultimately placing ahead of three Top-100 ranked players.
He earned a place in the regional field by becoming the first Davidson individual medalist at the Southern Conference Championship in 38 years.