Florida State made history, winning their first NCAA Regional title
(FSU photo)
The field is set for the 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships to be held at Grayhawk Country Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. as regional play concluded at six national sites on Wednesday.
Sixteen of the top 18 seeds in the field advanced to Grayhawk, while Sam Houston, Little Rock and San Francisco will make their first-ever appearances at the national championships.
Here’s a recap of this week’s six NCAA Division I Regional Championships:
Stillwater Regional (Karsten Creek)
With a 28-under score of 836 (-28), top-seeded Oklahoma State thrived on home course advantage to capture the Stillwater Regional by 14 strokes over runner-up and No. 2 seed Illinois. Rounding out the remaining top five advancing teams were No. 4 seed SMU, which finished third at even par 293, Sam Houston, the No. 8 seed which finished fourth at 11-over 295 while the final spot went to No. 9 seed Little Rock (+15).
Sam Houston and Little Rock began the third round on the outside of the top five, but punched their tickets to Grayhawk with third round scores of 295 and 294, respectively, to advance to the nationals.
No. 3 seed Auburn and No. 7 seed Baylor finished one shot out of the coveted fifth place while No. 5 Notre Dame finished eighth at 294 (+20).
SMU Junior Noah Goodwin went wire-to-wire to claim medalist honors with a 54-hole total of 15-under 201 on rounds of 66-67-68. With a regional co-leading 16 birdies, Goodwin finished six strokes ahead of Oklahoma State freshman Bo Jin, who finished a distant second at 9-under 207. Jin’s teammate, sophomore Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra, finished in a four-way tie for third place at 5-under, along with Illinois teammates Adrien Dumond de Chassart and Michael Feagles, and Colorado State senior AJ Ott.
Ott, playing as an individual in the regional, will be the lone individual out of Stillwater to advance to the national championship.
"It's very cool. I'm just excited to represent Colorado State," Ott told CSURams.com. "I wish my team was out there, but it's been a great week. We've been trying to have a lot of fun. I think that's a huge key when you're playing in postseason stuff is you have to remember to have fun."
Advancing Teams: No. 1 Oklahoma State, No. 2 Illinois, No. 4 SMU, No. 8 Sam Houston, and No. 9 Little Rock. Advancing Individual: AJ Ott (Colorado State)
Noblesville Regional (Sagamore)
Top-seeded Texas topped the leaderboard at the Noblesville (Ind.) Regional with a winning score of 20-under 844. Five strokes behind Texas tied for second place were No. 2 seed North Carolina and No. 3 seed Tennessee, who shot 15-under 849 at the Sagamore Golf Club. Joining the Longhorns, Tar Heels, and Volunteers in Scottsdale will be fifth-seeded Louisville, who finished in fourth place at -10 and UAB, the seventh seed which jumped up two spots to claim the fifth spot after firing a regional-best 13-under 275 in the final round.
No. 4 seed North Florida finished sixth at 1-under 863.Playing not far from the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in West Lafayette, Purdue’s Cole Bradley claimed medalist honors and will advance to Scottsdale after posting a winning score of 10-under 206. Bradley tied the competitive course record with a 7-under 65 in the third round to finish two strokes clear of West Virginia’s Mark Goetz.Solo players made up three of the top four on the final leaderboard, as the Boilermaker junior was able to overcome fellow individuals Mark Goetz (-8) of West Virginia and Missouri redshirt sophomore Ross Steelman, who tied with 10th seed Arkansas State’s Zan Luka Stirn in third place at 7-under.
Advancing Teams: No. 1 Texas, No. 2 North Carolina, No. 3 Tennessee, No. 5 Louisville, No. 7 UABAdvancing Individual: Cole Bradley (Purdue)
Tallahassee Regional (Seminole Legacy)
Florida State, the championships’ No. 2 overall seed, began the Tallahassee Regional with a 17-under-par 271 and never looked back, claiming the regional title on its home course by 17 strokes over No. 2 seed Georgia. Florida State’s 34-under team score was the lowest score to par by any team participating in the 2021 NCAA Men’s Golf Regionals and earned the Seminoles their first ever NCAA Regional title.
“I think this is very important,” said Florida State senior and U.S. Walker Cup team member John Pak said to Seminoles.com. “We’re going to ride this momentum to the national championship. I’ve been here four years and I’m a little inexperienced I guess because I’ve never been to a national championship. I think that gives us a lot of momentum and we’re all excited to get to Arizona.”
No. 5 seed Georgia Tech finished in third place, one stroke behind their in-state rivals at -16 at 16-under 848, just ahead of No. 3 seed Liberty, who finished in fourth at 15-under. Seventh-seeded TCU, which began the day in sixth place four shots out of the coveted fifth spot, rallied with a final round 6-under 282 to secure fifth place and a trip to Scottsdale.Georgia senior Davis Thompson, fresh off participating in the Walker Cup for the winning United States side, overcame a one-shot deficit entering the final round to claim medalist honors over Jacksonville’s Michael Sakane. Thompson finished with a three-round tally of 202 (-14), while Sakane, who will advance to the National Championship as an individual, finished one stroke back at 13-under. Sakane becomes the first Dolphin to reach the NCAA Championship as an individual.
Advancing Teams: No. 1 Florida State, No. 2 Georgia, No. 5 Georgia Tech, No. 3 Liberty, No. 4 TCU. Advancing Individual: Michael Sakane (Jacksonville)
Kingston Springs Regional (Golf Club of Tennessee)
All five of the top-seeded teams advanced to Scottsdale from the Kingston Springs Regional. No. 3 seed and SEC champion Vanderbilt used a sizzling final round of 9-under 275 to claim its first-ever regional title with a winning score of 18-under 834, good for an 11-shot victory over No. 4 seed Arkansas.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled for a group,” Vanderbilt head coach Scott Limbaugh told VUCommodores.com. “That’s one of the hardest days in college golf and for our kids to come out and just run with it … I mean we had momentum from the start and for all five guys to be even-par or better [in the third round] on this magnificent golf course, I truly couldn’t be prouder of a group.”
No. 5 seed San Diego State, which led the regional after the second round, finished in third place at 5-under, while the top two seeds, Clemson and North Carolina State, tied for fourth at 3-under.San Diego State’s Puwit Anupansuebsai won the individual title with a winning score of 8-under 205, good for a one stroke victory over Tyson Reeder of Arkansas. After an even par 71 to start the Regional, Anupansuebsai put together back-to-back 4-under rounds of 67 to emerge from a tight leaderboard.Advancing to the National Championship as an individual will be Michigan State senior James Piot who closed with back-to-back 68s to finish in a four-way tie for fourth place at 5-under par.
Advancing Teams: No. 3 Vanderbilt, No. 4 Arkansas, No. 5 San Diego State, No. 1 Clemson, No. 2 NC StateAdvancing Individual: James Piot (Michigan State)
Albuquerque Regional (UNM Championship Course)
Following a final round 11-under 277, No. 4 seed Texas Tech captured the Albuquerque Regional championship with a winning score of 26-under 838, 10 strokes clear of No. 2 seed Arizona State and No. 7 seed Oregon State, who tied for second at 16-under 848.
"I'm really happy for the guys," Texas Tech coach Greg Sands said to TexasTech.com. "They really prepared well leading up to the week and executed our game plan for the golf course. It was a complete performance because all five players were in every round. I couldn't be happier for them."
Top-ranked Oklahoma began their third round on the outside looking in, but compiled a final round 10-under 278 to vault five places up the leaderboard to finish in fourth at 13-under, while No. 11 seed San Diego became the second 11 seed in the field to advance to the National Championship with a fifth place finish at 12-under.No. 3 seed Texas A&M finished one shot out of fifth place at 11-under 853.2019 NCAA National Champion Stanford finished tied for seventh with No. 5 seed and regional host New Mexico.South Carolina junior Ryan Hall (-11) claimed medalist honors at 11-under 205 on rounds of 68-68-69 and was the only golfer in the Albuquerque Regional to post three rounds in the 60s. Hall was able to hold off Texas A&M junior Sam Bennett and Oklahoma redshirt senior Jonathan Brightwell, who finished in a tie for second at 10-under par.
Advancing Teams: No. 4 Texas Tech, No. 2 Arizona State, No. 7 Oregon State, No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 11 San DiegoAdvancing Individual: Ryan Hall (South Carolina)
Cle Elum Regional (Tumble Creek Club at Suncadia Resort)
After having traveled 2,100 miles from their Johnson City, Tenn. campus, No. 8 seed East Tennessee State captured the Cle Elum Regional by 10 strokes over No. 5 seed San Francisco, which finished in second place at 4-under 848. Top-seeded Wake Forest (-2), No. 2 seed Pepperdine (-1), and No. 3 seed Florida (+6) rounded out the top five.Pepperdine, which has national championship aspirations, were tied for fifth place at even par 568 after two days of work but closed with a 1-under 283 to earn a trip to Scottsdale.
The third-seeded Gators jumped three spots un the leaderboard on Wednesday to also earn a trip to the desert.No. 7 seed Washington began the third round in third place but was denied a trip to Scottsdale after closing with a 21-over 305 which dropped the Huskies into seventh place.ETSU freshman Shiso Go shot a final round 67 to claim medalist honors with a winning score of 8-under 205, good for a one stroke victory over Pepperdine senior Joey Vrzich and Wake Forest junior Alex Fitzpatrick (a 2021 GB&I Walker Cup Team member), who both finished at seven under par. Utah’s Tristan Mandur, a senior from Mill Bay, British Columbia, Canada, will advance to the National Championship as the low individual golfer who is not on one of the top five qualifying teams.
Advancing Teams: No. 8 East Tennessee State, No. 5 San Francisco, No. 1 Wake Forest, No. 2 Pepperdine, No. 3 FloridaAdvancing Individual: Tristan Madur (Utah)