Chattanooga ties for sixth at NCAA Eugene Regional, Robb to NCAA Championship
EUGENE, Ore. – The Chattanooga Mocs men’s golf team fell just five shots shy of advancing to the NCAA Championship on Saturday, but senior Chris Robb won a one-hole playoff for the lone individual berth to the NCAA Championship on May 23-28 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan.
Robb played brilliantly for the week, shooting rounds of 67, 72 and 73 for a 2-over-par 212. That tied him for third with Niklas Lindstrom of Liberty. Since neither team advanced, the duo was sent to the ninth tee to begin a playoff for the ticket to nationals.
Robb led off driving in the bunker on the left side of the fairway. Lindstrom bombed his drive down the left-hand side for a clear advantage. The Mocs’ Scot blasted out of the bunker just short right with a touchy chip with little green to work with. Lindstrom bladed his wedge over, but he still had an advantage with a wealth of green to work with.
It was back to Robb, whose flop shot ended up 15 feet behind the hole with a rather straightforward left-to-right downhill putt. Lindstrom followed with a nice effort down the hill that settled eight feet from the cup. Robb drilled his putt into the heart of the hole, while Lindstrom’s lipped out to send Robb to Kansas.
Chattanooga shot 298 over the final 18 holes to tie North Florida for sixth at 885. It was not enough to catch up with No. 22 South Carolina, which shot 301. There was a three-shot difference when the Mocs completed their round and sat in the clubhouse to await the exciting finish.
The Gamecocks got birdies from Will Starke on 17 and Ben Dietrich on the squad’s final hole for the five-stroke win. USC joins No. 3 Stanford, Oregon, No. 15 Oklahoma and No. 10 Houston in moving on to Hutchinson, Kan.
The Mocs battled the difficult Eugene Country Club tract all day. Birdies on 18, the team’s ninth hole, by Wes Gosselin and Ewan Scott had the Mocs at +7 at the turn. The grind continued as Robb and Liam Johnston recorded birdies in rapid-fire action.
Johnston rolled in threes at the par-4 third and fourth holes. Not long after, Robb followed with one of his own on the fourth. That put the Mocs at 10-over-par for the day. The closing holes took a bite out with eight bogeys from six through nine on the counting cards.
Robb’s 212 led the Mocs, followed by Johnston and Scott at 222. Davis Bunn was next at 232, with Gosselin checking in at 238.
UNCG ties for seventh at NCAA Auburn Regional
AUBURN, Ala. – The UNCG men’s golf team finished seventh overall in the program’s first-ever appearance in an NCAA Regional and came up just two shots short of advancing to the NCAA Championship. The Spartans turned in their best round of the week Saturday, posting a 4-over-par 292 at the Auburn University Club.
UNCG was the only non-ranked team in contention for a top-five showing and returns all seven members of the team next season, as this week’s lineup included one junior, two sophomores and two freshmen.
The Spartans ended the tournament 22-over-par at 886 (298-296-292), tied with No. 36 BYU and one shot behind No. 25 New Mexico at 885. No. 13 Texas was the final team to advance to the NCAA Championship, placing fifth overall with a 20-over-par 884. Rounding out the qualifiers for the championship were No. 1 Alabama (853), No. 37 Kennesaw State (875), No. 23 Auburn (878) and No. 12 Virginia Tech (882).
Those five teams advanced along with individual champion Marco Iten of Austin Peay, who posted an 8-under-par 208 (71-70-67). The finals will be conducted May 23-28 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan., with Wichita State acting as the host institution.
UNCG junior Roy Dixon led the Spartans on Saturday and all week at the NCAA Regionals. Dixon tied for the team low on the week Saturday with a 1-under-par 71 to finish tied for 15th overall at 2-over-par 218 (72-75-71). He was consistent all week, including in round three as he posted 15 par scores to go along with birdies on No. 12 and No. 16 and a bogey on No. 5. He was tied for the team lead with nine birdies in the 54-hole event.
Sophomore Taylor Coalson finished the week tied for 25th overall with a 5-over-par 221 (71-75-75). Coalson posted three birdies on the day to go along with six bogeys and nine par scores. Freshman Jake McGlone continued his strong final two rounds of the tournament, posting a 2-over-par 74 Saturday. McGlone finished tied for 35th overall with an 8-over-par 224 (79-71-74).
Freshman Carter Jenkins placed 44th with an 11-over-par 227 (77-75-75). Jenkins had a tough start to the day with four straight bogeys before hitting three birdies and two bogeys over the last 14 holes.
Sophomore Luke Haithcock rebounded from a tough second round and posted his best 18-holes of the week with an even-par 72. Haithcock had an up-and-down outing with five birdies and five bogeys on the afternoon. He finished the regional tied for 62nd overall with a 229 (78-79-72).
Georgia Southern finishes eighth at NCAA San Antonio Regional
SAN ANTONIO – Junior Scott Wolfes fired a team-leading 73, but Georgia Southern saw its season come to a close at the NCAA Men’s Golf Championships San Antonio Regional on Saturday at Briggs Ranch Golf Club.
Sent off hole 10, the easier side all week for Georgia Southern, which finished the tournament 16-over, the Eagles just could not get anything going early and made the turn to the tougher side at 4-over. They ended the day with a team score of 302, dropping them from a tie for fifth to eighth and out of contention for a bid to the finals.
Senior Hayden Anderson finished with a 77 Saturday and tied for 21st in the individual standings with classmate and roommate Will Evans, who shot 75. After his 68 helped put the Eagles in the mix Friday, Charlie Martin posted a 77 Saturday and tied for 25th, while Matthew Mierzejewski finished with an 81.
The round turned out to be the last in college for Anderson and Evans, and it’s fitting the 4-year players tied in their final outing. Anderson played in three NCAA Regionals and was in the lineup for two Southern Conference Championship titles. Evans played in two NCAA Regionals and helped key the Eagles’ SoCon title in April, tying for sixth at 2-over for the tournament.
Both played on five tournament title teams in the last two years, including this year’s Schenkel Invitational, the first win at the Eagles’ 35-year-old home tournament in school history.
Georgia (-11) won the San Antonio Regional, with Georgia State (+2) finishing second and Vanderbilt (+3) placing third. SMU (+4) and UCLA (+5) earned the final to team bids to the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship finals at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan., May 23-28.
TCU’s Julien Brun (-10) shot even par Saturday to take home medalist honors by a stroke over Georgia’s Lee McCoy (-9). Brun advances to the NCAA finals as the top individual not on a team advancing.
Mierzejewski, Martin and Wolfes all return to next year’s team along with four other letter-winners. Georgia Southern also brings in newcomers Archer Price and Andrew Klasing.
Davidson’s Fountain finishes tied for 38th at NCAA Raleigh Regional
RALEIGH, N.C. – Arguably the most successful golfer in Davidson history, Richard Fountain (+7/T-38) wrapped up his four-year standout career Saturday at the 2014 NCAA Golf Regional with a 54-hole total of 220 (73-73-74).
The three-day event hosted by NC State was played on the par-71, 7,213-yard Lonnie Poole Golf Course.
Fountain suffered some unfortunate luck at the start of his final round, as his driver broke, forcing him to go to a backup provided by fellow Wildcat Todd Eckstein. For the second consecutive round, the Raleigh native made the turn in 37. After suffering a double-bogey on the par-5 first, his 10th hole of the day, Fountain played his remaining eight holes at level par, highlighted by birdies at the fourth and seventh.
With his final-round 3-over 74, Fountain climbed four spots up the individual leaderboard to conclude his final collegiate tournament tied for 38th.
Western Carolina’s Poston ties for 38th at NCAA Raleigh Regional
RALEIGH, N.C. – Western Carolina junior J.T. Poston wrapped up perhaps the best individual single-season in program history on Saturday afternoon, charting three birdies in a 3-over-par round of 74 as he concluded play at the 2014 NCAA Men’s Golf Raleigh Regional at the par-71, 7,213-yard Lonnie Poole Golf Course. Poston advanced four spots on the last day of tournament play to place 38th in the final standings.
Poston matched the finish of his first-ever NCAA postseason appearance, also finishing tied for 38th a season ago in the 2013 Tallahassee regional with a three-day score of 219 (71-72-76). It is tied for the third-best individual NCAA showing in the WCU program history, as Matt Cook finished 20th in 2007 and holds the all-time best finish with a 14th-place tie in 2008.
Opening his final round in a tie for 42nd and on the back nine, Poston got off to a tough start with two bogeys and a double-bogey through his first five holes to stand at 4-over-par. He bounced back by birdieing the par-5 15th for the second time in three days but again found bogey on the par-4 18th for the third straight day to make the turn at 4-over-par.
Poston carded a fourth bogey on the par-3 second to drop to 5-over-par through 11 holes. The Hickory, N.C., product finished strong, though, tallying two birdies and five pars over his final seven holes to finish 1-under on the front nine and 3-over on the afternoon.
Georgia Tech claimed the regional team championship handily by 17 strokes over second-place Washington. The Yellow Jackets posted a team score of 825, while the Huskies were the runner-up at 842. Texas A&M (849) finished third, seven strokes in arrears of the runner-up, with Kentucky (856) and Florida State (860) rounding out the top five – each advancing to the NCAA Championship.
Washington’s Jonathan Sanders claimed individual medalist with a three-round score of 10-under-par 203 to edge Georgia Tech’s Ollie Schniederjans (206) by three strokes. Wake Forest’s Cyrus Stewart was the highest finishing individual not on one of the top five teams, finishing tied for fifth overall with a three-day score of 209 to advance to the championship round.
On the season, Poston recorded nine top-10 finishes, including placing in the top five eight times with three individual medalist honors in his 11 seasonal events. The Southern Conference’s Player of the Year and an All-SoCon selection, Poston recorded WCU’s all-time best single-season scoring average at 70.27 and will enter his senior year atop the career stroke average chart at 71.97.
The three-year starter was listed on two national player of the year watch lists this season – both the Ben Hogan and the Haskins Award – while also appearing on the Palmer Cup watch list this spring.