Palmer Jackson had capped an outstanding scholastic career at Franklin Regional by capturing the PIAA Class AAA Championship in the fall of 2018 at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County.
After reaching the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur at the Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina, Jackson hit the ground running at Notre Dame, helping the Irish put together the best fall campaign in the history of the program.
All of the momentum from that fall season came to a crashing halt when the wraparound 2019-2029 season came to a sudden end in March with the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic.
Notre Dame, playing in the tough Atlantic Coast Conference, never quite seemed to regain the magic of the those first few weeks of Jackson’s time in South Bend, Ind. The Fighting Irish earned a spot in the NCAA Palm Beach Regional two years ago and Jackson represented Notre Dame as individual last spring.
Notre Dame was back in the NCAA regionals when the men’s version of May madness teed off Monday and with Jackson, now in his fifth season, leading the way, the Fighting Irish opened with a solid 9-under-par 275 that left them in second place, two shots behind Big 12 champion and Austin Regional host Texas.
Jackson opened with a solid 4-under-par 67 over the 7,399-yard, par-71 University of Texas Golf Club layout that left him a tie with five other players at the top of the leaderboard.
Got a chance to chat with Jackson following his victory in the state tournament at Heritage Hills nearly six years ago. He had such a good head on his shoulders for a high school senior. I suspect he is very much the leader of this Notre Dame team.
The Irish have been bolstered, as they were in the fall of 2019, by a freshman from western Pennsylvania in Rocco Salvitti, a four-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Pittsburgh Central Catholic. Salvitti opened with a 1-under 71 that left him a group tied for 18th place.
Two of the six players tied at the top with Jackson were a couple of Texas players, Tommy Morrison, a talented sophomore from Dallas, Texas and No. 78 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and Nathan Petronzio, a graduate student from Bee Cave, Texas. Their 67s helped the Longhorns, seeded third, grab the lead in the team chase with an 11-under 275.
Top-seeded Tennessee, out of the loaded Southeastern Conference, was a shot behind Notre Dame in third place with an 8-under 276 total.
Eighth-seeded Brigham Young, playing out of the Big 12 for the first time this season, was three shots behind Tennessee in fourth place and another SEC entry, fourth-seeded Georgia, was five shots behind the Cougars in fifth at even-par 284.
The top five finishers in the team chase in the regionals and the top individual from a non-advancing school will advance to the NCAA Championship, which tees off May 24 at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa’s Champions Course in Carlsbad, Calif.
Brian Stark, a graduate student from Kingsburg, Calif. and No. 64 in the WAGR, backed up Morrison and Petronzio for Texas as he was in the group tied for seventh place with a 3-under 68.
Christiaan Maas, a sophomore from South Africa, matched par with a 71 and was in the group tied for 26th place for Texas. Rounding out the lineup for the Longhorns was Keaton Vo, a sophomore home boy from Austin, Texas who was in the group tied for 43rd place after opening with a 2-over 73.
Rounding out the gang of seven tied for first place in the Austin Regional at 4-under were Wake Forest’s Michael Brennan, a senior from Leesburg, Va., Tennessee’s Bryce Lewis, a redshirt senior from Hendersonville, Tenn., and North Carolina Greensboro’s Kelvin Hernandez, a freshman from Puerto Rico.
In the Baton Rouge Regional, second-seeded Virginia, out of the ACC, grabbed the lead with an 8-under 280 at The University Club behind individual leader Deven Patel, a junior from Johns Creek, Ga. who carded a sparkling 5-under 67.
Top-seeded Auburn, the SEC champion, was five shots behind the Cavaliers as the Tigers opened with a 3-under 285 over the 7,401-yard, par-72 University Club layout.
Sixth-seeded Ohio State, out of the Big Ten, shared third place with ninth-seeded Houston, another new team in the Big 12 this season, as the two teams each posted a 1-over 289 that left them four shots behind Auburn.
Fifth-seeded Duke, an ACC power, was two shots behind Ohio State and Houston in fifth place after opening with a 3-over 291.
Backing up Patel for Virginia was Bryan Lee, one of three Fairfax, Va. guys in the lineup, as he signed for a 2-under 70 that left him in the group tied for fourth place.
Josh Duangmanee, a freshman from Fairfax, was in the group tied for ninth place as he opened with a solid 1-under 71.
Rounding out the Virginia lineup were George Duangmanee, a senior from Fairfax, and Ben James, a sophomore from Milford, Conn. and No. 5 in the WAGR, as they each matched par with a 72 and landed among the group tied for 15th place.
LSU’s Conner Gaunt, a graduate student from Cabot, Ariz., and Houston’s Wolfgang Glawe, a senior from Germany were tied for second place in the individual standings, each recording a 4-under 68 that left them a shot behind Patel.
Leading the way for Ohio State was graduate student Neal Shipley, a member of Pittsburgh Central Catholic’s PIAA Class AAA championship team in 2018 and No. 57 in the WAGR. Shipley, the low amateur in last month’s Masters, was among the group tied for fourth placed with a solid 2-undere 70.
Redshirt junior Carson Bacha, the 2019 PIAA Class AAA champion at Central York, matched par with a 72 for Auburn that left him in the group tied for 15th place.
In the Chapel Hill Regional, East Tennessee State, the four-time reigning Southern Conference champion seeded fourth, completed two rounds at the University of North Carolina Finley Golf Course and had a three-shot lead over 10th-seeded Clemson, out of the ACC, which didn’t quite complete two rounds Monday.
With weather anticipated to be a problem Tuesday, teams tried to get in two rounds Monday and the Buccaneers ripped off a sizzling 15-under 265 in the second round after opening with a 6-under 274 in the opening round over the 7,084-yard, par-70 UNC Finley layout for a 21-under 539 total.
One Clemson player who did complete two rounds was Calahan Keever, a senior from Greenville, S.C. who ripped off back-to-back 5-under 65s that gave him the individual lead at 10-under 130.
Clemson opened with a 5-under 275 and was at 18-under as a team when play was suspended. Not sure if the plan is to try to complete the second round Tuesday or just wait until Wednesday. Guess it depends the weather and you know how that can go.
Top-seeded ACC champion North Carolina, the top seed and regional host, got two rounds in and was in third place at 13-under 547. The Tar Heels added a 4-under 276 after opening with a 9-under 271.
East Tennessee State was led by the talented pair of Mats Ege, a redshirt senior from Norway and No. 24 in the WAGR, and Algot Kleen, a junior from Sweden and No. 87 in the WAGR, as they each landed among the group tied for fifth place at 7-under 133.
Ege added a 4-under 66 in the second round to his opening-round 67. Kleen matched par in the opening round with a 70 before going off with a sizzling 7-under 63 in the afternoon’s second round.
Matty Dodd-Berry, a sophomore from England, added a 2-under 68 to his opening-round 66 and was among the group tied for ninth place at 6-under 134.
Remi Chartier, a graduate student from Canada, was among the group tied for 24th place at 1-under 139 after adding a 2-under 68 to his opening round of 1-over 139.
Rounding out the East Tennessee State lineup was Jenson Forrester, a redshirt freshman from England who was among a trio of players tied for 59th place at even-par 140 after matching par in each of his first two rounds with a pair of 70s.
Baylor’s Johnny Keefer, a graduate student from San Antonio, Texas and No. 42 in the WAGR, and North Carolina’s Austin Greaser, a graduate student from Vandalia, Ohio and No. 12 in the WAGR, were tied for second place in the individual standings, each trailing Clemson’s Keever at 9-under 131.
Keefer added a sizzling 6-under 64 in the second round to his opening-round 67. Grease, the runnerup in the 2021 U.S. Amateur at the iconic Oakmont Country Club in suburban Pittsburgh, added a 5-under 65 in the afternoon to his opening-round 66.
North Carolina State’s Nick Mathews, a redshirt senior from Mebane, N.C., was still on the golf course when play was suspended and was in fourth place at 8-under. Mathews opened with a 3-under 67 and was 5-under for his round in the afternoon when darkness suspended play.
There’s a loop to catch at Stonewall, so I won’t be able to give the other three regionals the full treatment.
In the Rancho Santa Fe Regional at The Farms Golf Club, perennially underrated North Florida, the sixth seed out of the ASUN, leads Big 12 power Oklahoma State, seeded fifth, by a shot after opening with a 3-under 277 total.
California’s Sampson Zheng, a senior from Japan, has the individual lead after opening with a 4-under 66 over the 6,862-yard, par-70 Farms Golf Club layout.
In the Stanford Regional, perennial Big Ten power Illinois, seeded third, grabbed a four-shot lead over top-seeded Florida State, the runnerup to North Carolina in the ACC, at the Stanford Golf Course.
The Fightin’ Illini opened with a 17-under 263 over the 6,727-yard, par-70 Stanford layout.
Illinois’ Max Herendeen, a freshman from Bellevue, Wash., posted a sizzling 7-under 63 to take a two-shot lead over a group of five players tied for second place that included Herenden's teammates Jackson Buchanan, a junior from Dacula, Ga. and No. 30 in the WAGR, and Tyler Goecke, a fifth-year player from Xenia, Ohio.
I’m watching you, Austin Barbin, the 2019 Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Boys’ Championship winner in 2019 from Elkton, Md. and Josh Ryan, the winner of the GAP Junior Boys’ champion the next three years in a row after Barbin’s victory, from Norristown, both playing for Liberty, which captured the title in Conference USA in the Flames’ first year in the conference.
Barbin, a senior, was in the group tied for 36th place after opening with a 1-over 71 at Stanford and Ryan, a sophomore, was in the group tied for 44th place with a 2-over 72.
In the West Lafayette Regional, top-seeded Vanderbilt, another SEC power, grabbed a six-shot lead over Pac-12 power Arizona, the second seed, with an opening round of 11-under 277 as Purdue’s Brick Boilermaker Golf Complex’s Kampen-Cosler Course.
The individual lead was held by Wisconsin’s Cameron Huss, a senior from Kenosha, Wis. who was competing as an individual and opened with a sparkling 6-under 66 over the 7,461-yard, par-72 Kampen-Cosler layout.
Lurking a shot behind Huss was Vanderbilt’s Gordon Sargent, a junior from Birmingham, Ala. and No. 2 in the WAGR, as the 2022 NCAA individual champion opened with a solid 5-under 67.
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