The Big East and American
Conference championships begin and the Pac-12 Championship concludes. A little
bit on all three.
Reigning BMW Philadelphia Amateur champion Cole Berman and
his Georgetown Hoyas got off to a fast start as the Big East Championship teed
off Sunday at Callawassie Island Golf Club in Okatie, S.C. (where I suspect it
was a little warmer than the high 40s with rain tapering off to drizzle that
greeted May in southeastern Pennsylvania).
Berman, a sophomore and a former Haverford School standout,
matched par on the 6,960-yard, par-72 Dogwood and Magnolia nines at Callawassie
Island with a 72 to help Georgetown grab the team lead with a 2-over 290 total.
Georgetown was led by Sam Madsen, a sophomore from Madison,
Wis. who fired a 2-under 70 and is tied for second in the individual standings.
Rounding out the Georgetown contingent were: Harrison
Rhoades, a freshman from Raleigh, N.C. who is tied for sixth at 1-over 73; Jack
Musgrave, a sophomore from Chesterton, Ind. who is tied for 14th
with a 3-over 75; and Kevin Jackson, a freshman from Atlanta who is 39th
with an 83.
The individual leader is Xavier’s Jose Montano, a sophomore
from Bolivia who carded a 3-under 69. Sharing second with Georgetown’s Madsen
at 2-under 70 is Seton Hall’s Lloyd Jefferson Go, a junior from the Philippines.
Sharing fourth with Georgetown’s Berman at even-par 72 is
DePaul’s Adrian Halimi, a senior from Indonesia.
Montano led the Musketeers to a share of second place in the
team standings with Marquette at 11-over 299, nine shots behind Georgetown.
DePaul is fourth at 300 and Butler and Seton Hall are tied for fifth at 305.
It was a disappointing start to the tourney for Villanova,
which posted a 311 total and is tied for eighth with St. John’s.
But the Wildcats did get a strong showing from Lucas Trim, a
junior from Tampa, Fla. who carded a 1-over 73 and is tied for sixth.
Rounding out the Villanova contingent were: Luke Waggoner, a
senior from Crystal Lake, Ill. who carded a 76 and is tied for 16th;
Zach Egermayer, a sophomore from Glen Rock, N.J. who posted an 80 and is tied
for 32nd; Andrew MacMillan, a sophomore from Scottsdale, Ariz. who
had an 82 and is tied for 37th; and Will Byrne, a sophomore from
McLean, Va. who had an 88 and is in 44th place.
Meanwhile, the American Athletic Conference Championship
teed off Sunday at the Black Diamond Ranch’s Quarry Course in Lecanto, Fla.
(again, smart move heading south and away from the dreadful weather in the
Northeast) and Temple senior Brandon Matthews took a step toward checking one
of the few boxes he has yet to fill in his glittering college resume.
Matthews, who won the 2010 PIAA title as a junior at
Pittston, fired a 3-under 69 over the 7,025-yard, par-72 Quarry Course to earn
a share of the individual lead with East Carolina’s Wes Conover, a senior from
Holly Springs, N.C.
Matthews, who has won the Philadelphia Open twice in the
last three years and reached the second stage of the PGA Tour qualifying
process last fall, dominated the par-5s at Black Diamond Ranch. He eagled the
par-5 18th, his ninth hole of the day, and then added birdies on the
par-5 fifth and ninth holes on the front side. Matthews shares the Temple
program record with eight tournament wins and a victory in the AAC tourney
would be a nice way to break that tie and give him the record alone.
Three other players are tied for second, a shot back of
Matthews and Wes Conover, including Conover’s younger brother Tim, a sophomore.
Joining Tim Conover at 2-under 70 are South Florida’s Aksel Olsen, a senior
from Norway, and Houston’s Vincent Martino, a senior from Southlake, Texas.
Olsen led South Florida, No. 15 in the latest Golfstat rankings, to the top of a
bunched team leaderboard as the Bulls posted a 3-under 285 total. The Conover
brothers helped the Pirates grab second at 1-under 287, two shots behind South
Florida.
Martino and No. 35 Houston are another three shots back in
third at 2-over 290 followed by Central Florida in fourth at 5-over 283 and
Memphis in fifth at 6-over 294.
The rest of Brian Quinn’s Temple Owls struggled and stand
ninth at 304. In addition to Matthews, the Temple contingent included:
Sophomore Mark Farley, a former Calvary Christian standout who carded a 3-over
75 and is tied for 25th; freshman Gary McCabe, the former La Salle
standout who posted a 79 and is tied for 40th; Trey Wrenn, a
freshman from Suffolk, Va. who is 44th after an 81; and John Barone,
a redshirt freshman from Dunmore who is 45th with an 82.
The Pac-12 Championship wrapped up Sunday at The Country
Club in Salt Lake City, Utah and that feeling of inevitability that No. 4
Stanford had established with its 19-under 336 second round played out,
although the Cardinal did look a little human in the final round.
The scores were a little higher across the board over the
7,209-yard, par-72 Country Club layout and 72 holes of golf over three days
appears to have taken a toll, but Stanford’s final round of 11-over 366 still
left the Cardinal as the only team under par at 18-under 1,402. It was
Stanford’s third straight Pac-12 tourney title.
No. 13 California skied to a final-round 28-over 383, but
still held second at 1,431, albeit 29 shots behind Stanford. No. 10 Arizona
State had the day’s best round, a 9-over 364, to claim third place at 19-over
1,439. No. 24 Washington had a final-round 368 to finish fourth at 1,443 and
No. 2 Southern California, which never was able to get into the running after
the opening round, posted a 381 to finish fifth at 1,448.
Stanford was led, as it was all weekend, by David Boote, a
senior from England, who had a 1-over 73 to finish in a tie for third at
7-under 277. Franklin Huang, a sophomore from Poway, Calif., also had a 73 to
finish alone in fifth at 5-under 270. Junior Maverick McNealy, the reigning
Haskins and Nicklaus award winner, finished with a steady even-par 72 to finish
sixth at 3-under 281.
Rounding out the Stanford contingent were: Jeffrey Swegle, a
sophomore from West Des Moines, Iowa who had a 73 and finished tied for 11th
at even-par 284; Viraat Badhwar, a junior from Australia, who had a 75 to
finish tied for 15th at 3-over 287; and Brandon Wu, a freshman from
Danville, Calif. who had a 75 to finish tied for 29th at 8-over 292.
It was a pretty impressive performance by Stanford in the
grueling six-player, count-five format over 72 holes.
In the individual chase, Cal’s KK Limbhasut, a sophomore
from Loma Linda, Calif., opened the door with a final-round 79 and Arizona
State’s Jon Rahm, a senior from Spain, charged right through to claim the
Pac-12 title.
Rahm carded a 3-under 68 in Sunday’s final round to finish
at 12-under 272, four shots clear of Arizona’s Jordan Gumberg, a sophomore from
Fort Lauderdale, Fla. who also had a final-round 68 to finish at 8-under 276.
Limbhasut had charged to a six-shot lead after three rounds
on the strength of three straight 66s before falling back Sunday, but still
shared third place with Stanford’s Boote at 7-under 277.
The field for the NCAA regionals will be announced Thursday
and you can expect the Pac-12 to be well-represented.
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