Illinois claims top seed for match play, Georgia Tech's Tai captures individual crown in NCAA Championship at La Costa

 

   Striking a blow for Big Ten golf, a gritty Illinois was easily the best team in four rounds of stroke-play qualifying for match play, claiming the top seed by 16 shorts over Southeastern Conference power Vanderbilt at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa’s North Course in Carlsbad, Calif.

   The game changes Tuesday with the shift to match play, but the Fightin’ Illini, with two players in the gang of six that finished in a tie for second place, a shot behind individual champion Hiroshi Tai, a sophomore at Georgia Tech from Singapore and No. 70 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), closed with a solid 4-under-par 284 on a Memorial Day Monday.

   That gave the Illini a 6-under 1,146 total as they were the only team to finish under par for 72 holes over the 7,538-yard, par-72 North Course that proved to be a tough test for the best amateur players in the world.

   Tyler Goecke, a fifth-year player from Xenia, Ohio who transferred to Illinois after an outstanding four years at Wright State, and Max Herendeen, a freshman from Bellevue, Wash., both landed in the large group tied for second place at 2-under 286.

   Goecke closed with a solid 1-under 71 and Herendeen matched par in the final round with a 72 as both hovered around par all weekend on the Southern California coast.

   Illinois’ opponent when match play gets under way with the quarterfinals Tuesday morning will be Georgia Tech, one of four Atlantic Coast Conference teams to make the eight-team match-play bracket.

   Finishing well ahead of the leaders, the Yellow Jackets closed with their second straight 4-over 292 for a 25-over 1,117 total, then watched as a couple of powerful programs, including Oklahoma and defending national champion Florida, faltered down the stretch.

   Georgia Tech was playing without senior Christo Lamprecht, the No. 1 player in the WAGR from South Africa who suffered a back injury following the opening round of stroke play Friday.

   It was starting to look like Tai was going to win the NCAA individual championship easily when he got it to 6-under. But he made a mess of his next-to-last hole, the par-3 eighth hole, with a triple bogey to fall back to 3-under.

   But Tai got it up and down for par on the ninth hole for a final round of 1-under 71 that left him with a 3-under 285 total. Several players in the top 10 in the WAGR had chances to get even with Tai at 3-under, but couldn’t make the crucial birdie they needed down the stretch.

   One of those players was Vanderbilt’s Gordon Sargent, a junior from Birmingham, Ala. and No. 2 in the WAGR, as he had a look at birdie at the par-5 18^th hole, but couldn’t get it to fall. Sargent matched par in the final round with a 72 to join the group tied for second place at 2-under.

   Sargent, though, already owns an NCAA individual title, a crown he won as a freshman in 2022 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. What Sargent came to La Costa for was an NCAA team title for Vanderbilt and the Commodores are very much in the mix for that goal as they finished in second place in qualifying for match play.

   Vanderbilt finished up with a 1-over 289 for a 1,162 total that left it 16 shots behind Illinois. The Commodores will face Ohio State, a surprising second Big Ten team in the match-play bracket, in Tuesday morning’s quarterfinals.

   A couple of ACC powers, Virginia and conference champion North Carolina, finished a shot behind Vanderbilt in a tie for third place following four rounds of stroke play as both landed on 11-over 1,163.

   The Cavaliers had their worst round of the weekend, a 7-over 295, but easily earned a spot in the match-play bracket while the Tar Heels matched Illinois for the low team round of the day with a 4-under 284.

   Virginia’s Ben James, a sophomore from Milford, Conn. and No. 5 in the WAGR, was playing alongside Sargent – they were teammates on a winning United States side in last summer’s Walker Cup Match at the Old Course at St. Andrews – and, like Sargent, James had a look at a birdie on the 18^th green that would have forced a playoff for the individual title, but couldn’t get it to fall.

   James closed with a 1-over 73 that left him in the group tied for second place at 2-under.

   Virginia draws SEC champion Auburn in the quarterfinals as the Tigers finished in sixth place with a 19-over 1,171 total.

   The vagaries of the match-play draw produced a rematch of last month’s ACC final at Charlotte Country Club when North Carolina defeated Florida State, 3-1, to claim its first ACC crown since 2006.

   Florida State closed with a 2-over 290 Monday to finish in fifth place, a shot behind its ACC compatriots Virginia and North Carolina, with a 12-over 1,164 total. That earned the Seminoles another high-stakes meeting with North Carolina, this time in the NCAA quarterfinals.

   Florida State’s Luke Clanton, a sophomore from Hialeah, Fla. and No. 8 in the WAGR, was another of the six players that couldn’t catch Georgia Tech’s Tai as Clanton closed with a 1-under 71 to finish in a tie for second place at 2-under.

   Auburn, which defeated Vanderbilt in the SEC final last month at Sea Island Golf Club on St. Simons Island, Ga., closed with a solid 4-over 292 to end up seven shots behind Florida State in sixth place with a 19-over 1,171 total.

   Auburn also had a player in that six-way logjam in second place in the individual chase as Jackson Koivun, its talented freshman from Chapel Hill, N.C. and No. 4 in the WAGR, closed with a 1-under 71 to finish at 2-under.

   Ohio State struggled a little in the final round, but grinded out a 9-over 297 to finish in seventh place with a 22-over 1,174 total that left the Buckeyes three shots behind Auburn.

   It was three more shots back to Georgia Tech, as the Yellow Jackets grabbed the final spot in the match-play bracket with their 25-over total.

   Oklahoma, a Big 12 entry which joins the SEC at the end of the summer, closed with a solid 1-over 289, but it wasn’t enough as the Sooners finished one frustrating shot behind Georgia Tech in ninth place.

   Backing up Goecke and Herendeen for Illinois was Ryan Voois, a sophomore from Ladera Ranch, Calif. who was low-Illini in the final round with a 3-under 69 that left him in the group tied for 11^th place with an even-par 288 total.

   Jackson Buchanan, a junior from Dacula, Ga. and No. 34 in the WAGR, matched par with a 72 for the third straight day for the Illini as he finished among the group tied for 31^st place with a 6-over 294 total.

   Rounding out the Illinois lineup was Piercen Hunt, a senior from Hartland, Wis. who struggled a little in the final round with a 6-over 78 that left him among the group tied for 53^rd place with a 299 total.

   For a minute it looked like Notre Dame graduate student Palmer Jackson might add an NCAA individual crown to the PIAA Class AAA title he won in 2018 as a senior at Franklin Regional. When Jackson made a birdie at the par-5 sixth hole, his 15^th of the day, he had a share of the individual lead at 3-under.

   Jackson, however, made bogeys at the next two holes and his solid final round of 2-under 70 left him among a trio of players tied for eighth place at 1-under 287.

   It was the highest finish ever in the NCAA Championship for a Notre Dame golfer and a really nice curtain call for one of the best players in the history of the program.

   Stanford’s Karl Vilips, a senior from Australia and No. 18 in the WAGR who led the individual chase by five shots after 36 holes, closed with a 2-over 74 to join Jackson at 1-under.

   Rounding out the trio tied for eighth place at 1-under was Ohio State’s Adam Wallin, a senior from Sweden who took a two-shot lead in the individual chase into Monday’s final round. Wallin struggled in the final round with a 4-over 76.

   Two Pennsylvania guys will be teeing it up in NCAA quarterfinal matches Tuesday morning, one of which is Wallin’s Ohio State teammate Neal Shipley, a graduate student who was a member of Pittsburgh Central Catholic’s 2018 PIAA Class AAA championship team.

   It’s been quite a last six weeks or so for Shipley, who earned low-amateur honors in last month’s Masters Tournament after a final-round pairing with five-time Masters champion Tiger Woods.

   Shipley was the low Buckeye in Monday’s final round, matching par with a 72, as he finished in the group tied for 35^th place with a 7-over 295 total. More importantly, Shipley helped the Buckeyes earn a spot in the match-play bracket for just the second time since the NCAA Championship added the match-play layer in 2009.

   Shipley was joined in the group at 7-over by Auburn redshirt junior Carson Bacha, the PIAA Class AAA champion in 2019 as a senior at Central York.

   Bacha was at his best in the final round with a clutch 1-under 71 that helped Auburn nail down a spot in the match-play bracket for just the second time since the match-play layer was added.

   The Golf Channel comes on a 1 p.m. Eastern Tuesday for the conclusion of the quarterfinals. TGC will be back at 6 p.m. Eastern as the quarterfinal winners meet in the semifinals. When the sun sets in on the Southern California coast, only two teams will be left standing in the battle to crown an NCAA champion.