It has been a remarkable career for Maverick McNealy at Stanford
(Golfweek Photo)
SUGAR GROVE, IL (May 28, 2017) - On Sunday at the third round of the NCAA Championship the stellar collegiate career of Maverick McNealy came to a close. It wasn't the college golf curtain call that the Stanford senior had hoped for but his final weekend of play does nothing to blemish his remarkable career.
“Disappointing round, disappointing finish,” Maverick McNealy told Golfweek following his round. "I couldn’t have imagined a better four years. Very mixed emotions. I’m sad it’s all over, but excited for whatever comes next.”
McNealy, currently the second-ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, had a banner senior season after deciding to return for his last year as a Cardinal. Recently the postseason awards for McNealy have been rolling in as he won the Ben Hogan Award and Byron Nelson Award. McNealy, one of the winningest players in Stanford history, won the Ben Hogan Award after being a finalist each of the previous two seasons.
Following a winless freshman year, McNealy claimed his first collegiate tournament as a sophomore at the Southwestern Intercollegiate. The victory was the first of his six during the season. As a junior McNealy added four more victories before capturing his final medalist title this year at the Nike Invitational.
WINS BY YEAR
| YEAR
| EVENTS WON
|
| Freshman (2013-2014)
| No Wins | |
| Sophomore (2014-2015) | Southwestern Intercollegiate, Fighting Illini Invitational, The Prestige,
The Goodwin, Pac-12 Championship, NCAA Regional Championship (6 wins) | |
| Junior (2015-2016) | Illini Invitational, U.S. Collegiate Championship, Gifford Collegiate Championship, Western Intercollegiate (4 wins) | |
| Senior (2016-2017) | Nike Invitational (1 win) | |
His final triumph was his program tying 11th individual title and it will leave him tied in the record books for the Stanford all-time mark with Tiger Woods and Patrick Rodgers.
The top-ranked played in the WAGR Rankings on two separate occasions, McNealy earned the 2016 Mark H. McCormack Medal and with it exemptions into the 2017 U.S. Open and Open Championship.
Yes, a 5-over showing at Rich Harvest Farms and an early team elimination wasn't what McNealy was hoping for, but as the summer golf season fast approaches there are many more opportunities for McNealy to continuing making his mark on the game of golf.
“I’m right back into practicing, and need to work on the putting and get that going in the right direction,” said McNealy, who said he lost six shots on the greens the first two rounds. “I’m hitting it great. I think my game is trending in the right direction. This was really my first setback in the last couple of months, based on how my game is going. "I want to play again. I want more reps. I want to put some good tournaments together and hit some good shots when I need to, and I think that will build on itself.”
-Golfweek contributed to this story
ABOUT THE NCAA Division I Championship
30 teams and 6 individuals not on a qualifying
team make up the field for the championship of
NCAA
Division I women's golf.
After 72 holes of stroke play, the individual
champion is crowned, and the low 8 teams advance
to
match play to determine the team champion.
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