Sherwood helps No. 1 Vanderbilt edge Georgia Tech by a shot to take team title in Watersound Invitational

   Vanderbilt entered this week’s Watersound Invitational at No. 1 in the latest Golfstat rankings and claimed its third straight team title, but Georgia Tech made the Commodores work for it.

   Reigning Southeastern Conference champion Vanderbilt has been on a epic roll dating back to February of last year. The victory in the Watersound was its 10^th team crown in that time frame, including wins in the SEC Championship and the NCAA Palm Beach Regional last spring and in the East Lake Cup that punctuated the fall portion of the wraparound 2022-2023 season.

   The Commodores reached the semifinals of last spring’s NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. before falling to eventual national champion Texas. The goals for this spring is obvious: Get back to Grayhawk, get into the match-play bracket and win two more matches.

   Georgia Tech, the runnerup to Wake Forest in last spring’s Atlantic Coast Conference Championship, staged a furious rally in Tuesday’s final round of the Watersound at the Shark’s Tooth Golf Club in Panama City Beach, Fla.

   But Vanderbilt’s Cole Sherwood, a junior from Austin, Texas and No. 9 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), drained a 25-foot putt for an eagle on the 17^th hole and converted another 25-footer, this one for par, at the last to help the Commodores hold on for a dramatic one-shot victory over Georgia Tech.

   Vanderbilt had taken an eight-shot lead over the Yellow Jackets into Tuesday’s final round, but Georgia Tech, behind a scintillating 9-under 63 over the 7,246-yard, par-72 Shark’s Tooth layout by Ross Steelman, a senior from Columbia, Mo. and No. 23 in the WAGR, put together a remarkable 21-under 267 to finish with a 37-under 827 total.

   Georgia Tech improved from No. 12 to No. 8 in the Golfstat rankings in the aftermath of the Watersound.

   Sherwood’s heroics enabled Vanderbilt to finish with a 14-under 274 that gave the Commodores a 38-under 826 total.

   Vanderbilt had opened with a 9-under 279 and added its best round of the tournament, a 15-under 273, in Monday’s second round.

   Vanderbilt was led by reigning NCAA individual champion Gordon Sargent, a sophomore from Birmingham, Ala. who recently ascended to No. 1 in the WAGR. After opening with a 71, Sargent ripped off rounds of 6-under 66 and 7-under 65 to finish in a tie for second place in the individual standings with Georgia Tech’s Christo Lamprecht, a junior from South Africa and No. 24 in the WAGR, each landing on 13-under 203.

The individual crown went to Florida State’s Frederik Kjettrup, a junior from Denmark and No. 40 in the WAGR whose final round of 7-under 65 gave him an 18-under 198 total that was five shots clear of Sargent and Lamprecht.

   Kjettrup had opened with a 6-under 66 and added a 67 in Monday’s second round. His 18-under total was one better than the program record of 17-under that had been established by Carl DiCesare in 19 and 67, 56 years ago.

   Georgia Tech had matched Vanderbilt’s opening-round 279 and added a 7-under 281 in Monday’s second round to set the stage for its final-round fireworks.

   It wasn’t a bad 2021-’22 season for Georgia Tech, but they have pretty high standards at the alma mater of Bobby Jones. The Yellow Jackets shared team honors with Oklahoma State as a two seed in the Columbus Regional, but never got in contention for a spot in the match-play bracket in the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk.

   Lambprecht opened with a 69 before adding a sizzling 7-under 65 in Monday’s second and finishing up with another 69 to get his share of second place with Sargent at 13-under.

   Florida State, one of Georgia Tech’s ACC rivals, was another 13 shots behind the Yellow Jackets in third place with a 24-under 840 total.

   The Seminoles, riding the hot hand of Kjettrup, added a 7-under 281 in Monday’s second round to their opening-round 284 before closing with a 13-under 275 total. Its showing at Shark’s Tooth, which hosted the ACC Championship last spring, enabled Florida State to move up a spot in the Golfstat rankings from No. 11 to No. 10.

   Florida State was the runnerup to Vanderbilt in last spring’s Palm Beach Regional, but never really got it going in the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk.

   Alabama, an SEC rival of Vanderbilt’s, finished a shot behind Florida State in fourth place with a 23-under 841 total as the Crimson Tide closed with a solid 14-under 284 total. Alabama, ranked 17^th before and after the Watersound, had opened with a 6-under 282 before adding a 285 in Monday’s second round.

   It was another 16 shots back to another SEC entry, Mississippi State, in fifth place with a 7-under 857 total.

   The Bulldogs, who moved up two spots in the Golfstat rankings from No. 24 to No. 22 following the Watersound, bounced back from an opening round of 2-over 290 with a 5-under 283 in Monday’s second round before closing with a 4-under 284.

   Another ACC entry, Notre Dame, and perennial Big 12 power Oklahoma State finished three shots behind Mississippi State in a tie for sixth place in the 11-team field, each landing on 4-under 860.

   The Fighting Irish, who moved up three spots in the Golfstat rankings from No. 36 to No. 33 following the Watersound, matched par in Monday’s second round with a 288 after opening with a 289 and closed with their best round of the tournament, a 5-under 283.

   Oklahoma State has been a national championship contender for the last few years, falling to Big 12 rival Texas, 3-2, in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship last spring at Grayhawk. The Cowboys dropped two spots in the Golfstat rankings from No. 16 to No. 18 in the aftermath of the Watersound. Maybe it’s a rebuilding year in Stillwater, but ignore the Cowboys at your peril

   Oklahoma State struggled a little in the first two rounds at Shark’s Tooth, adding a 1-over 289 in Monday’s second round to its opening-round 292, but the Cowboys got it going in Tuesday’s final round with a 9-under 279.

   Sherwood’s clutch finish gave Vanderbilt two finishers among the top four as he ended up in a tie for fourth place with Florida State’s Michael Mays, a sophomore from Winter Park, Fla. who was competing as an individual, each landing on 12-under 204, a shot behind Sargent and Lamprecht.

   Sherwood had opened with a 5-under 67 and added a 68 in Monday’s second round before converting those two huge putts to close out a 3-under 69.

   Matthew Riedel, a senior from Houston, finished alone in eighth place for Vanderbilt as he added a 3-under 69 in Monday’s second round to his opening-round 70 before closing with a clutch 4-under 68.

   Vanderbilt’s veteran head coach, Scott Limbaugh, got a chance to see a couple of his younger guys compete under pressure and he couldn’t have been all that disappointed.

   Wells Williams, a freshman from West Point, Miss., finished in the group tied for 14^th place with a 4-under 212 total as he sandwiched a 2-under 70 in Monday’s second round with a pair of 1-under 71s.

   Jackson Von Paris, a sophomore from Pinehurst, N.C., opened with a 1-under 71 and matched par in the second round with a 72 before he closed with a 3-over 75 to finish among the group tied for 34^th place with a 2-over 218 total.

   Reid Davenport, a fifth-year player from Austin, Texas and No. 34 in the WAGR, competed as an individual and the veteran Commodore finished in the group tied for 18^th place with a 3-under 213 total. Davenport matched par in the opening round with a 72 and added a 1-over 73 in Monday’s second round before finishing up with a solid 4-under 68.

   Sargent, Sherwood and Davenport were all in the starting lineup for Vanderbilt in its semifinal loss to Texas at Grayhawk last spring.

   Florida State’s Mays probably earned himself some consideration for a spot in the starting lineup for the Seminoles in their next outing as he opened with a 5-under 67, added a 68 in Monday’s second round and closed with a 69 to join Sherwood in the tie for fourth place at 12-under.

   Alabama was led by Thomas Ponder, a senior from Dothan, Ala. who finished a shot behind Sherwood and Mays in sixth place with an 11-under 205 total. Ponder, who represented the Crimson Tide as an individual in the NCAA Bryan Regional last spring, sandwiched a 71 in Monday’s second round with a pair of sparkling 5-under 67s.

   The brilliant closing 63 fired by Georgia Tech’s Steelman left him a shot behind Ponder in seventh place with a 10-under 206 total. Steelman had opened with a 1-under 71 before matching par in Monday’s second round with a 72.

   Two of Ponder’s teammates, Canon Claycomb, a senior from Bowling Green, Ky. and No. 65 in the WAGR, and Nick Dunlap, the freshman phenom from Huntsville, Ala. and No. 64 in the WAGR, headed a group of four players tied for ninth place at 7-under 209, two shots behind Vanderbilt’s Riedel, who was alone in eighth.

   Claycomb, who joined Ponder representing Alabama as an individual in the Bryan Regional last spring, matched par in the opening round with a 72 and then came on strong with a 3-under 69 in Monday’s second round and a closing 68.

   Dunlap, winner of the U.S. Junior Amateur in 2021 at the Country Club of North Carolina and a semifinalist in the same event last summer at Bandon Dunes, sandwiched a 71 in Monday’s second round with a pair of 3-under 69s.

It would seem unlikely that Alabama would be left out of the dance when the team berths to the NCAA Regional are announced this spring.

   Hiroshi Tai, a freshman from Singapore, gave Georgia Tech a third finisher inside the top 10 as he joined the quartet at 7-under. After opening with a 68, Tai struggled a little in Monday’s second round with a 2-over 74 before bouncing back with a solid 4-under 68 in the final round.

   Rounding out the foursome at 7-under was Florida State’s Brett Roberts, the individual champion in last spring’s Palm Beach Regional. Roberts was just two shots behind his teammate Kjettrup going into the final round after he added a 5-under 67 in Monday’s second round to his opening-round 68 before falling back in the final round with a 2-over 74.

   Notre Dame senior Palmer Jackson, winner of the PIAA Class AAA Championship as a senior at Franklin Regional in 2018, sandwiched a 1-over 73 in Monday’s second round with a pair of 2-under 70s as he finished in the group tied for 18^th place with a 3-under 213 total.

   Jackson, No. 44 in the WAGR, was part of a group that included Vanderbilt’s Sargent and Sherwood and Georgia Tech’s Steelman that participated in a practice session at golf courses in the Jupiter, Fla. area in December for candidates for the U.S. team that will compete in the Walker Cup Match in September at the Old Course at St. Andrews, you know the Home of Golf, the Road Hole, the Swilcan Bridge and all that.

   Notre Dame freshman Calen Sanderson, the 2020 PIAA Class AAA champion as a junior at Holy Ghost Prep, competed as an individual and finished in a tie for 57^th place with a 12-over 228 total. Sanderson was consistent, recording three straight 4-over 76s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lindblad, Tejedo help LSU go wire to wire while taking team crown in Moon Invitational

   If you’re a Southeastern Conference team, there is no greater consolation prize in a season that does not end in an NCAA crown than a conference championship.

   Three of the four semifinalists in the match-play bracket of the SEC Championship at the Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Ala. last spring were among the top four finishers in this week’s Moon Golf Invitational, which wrapped up Tuesday at Suntree Country Club’s Classic Course in Melbourne, Fla.

   Last spring’s SEC champion, LSU, went wire to wire to capture the team crown in the Moon with a 30-under-par 834 total. The Bayou Tigers moved up three spots in the latest Golfstat rankings from No. 9 to No. 6 with their third tournament victory of the wraparound 2022-2023.

    LSU was led by reigning individual SEC champion Ingrid Lindblad, a senior from Sweden and No. 2 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), and Carla Tejedo, a junior from Spain, both of whom finished among a group of five players tied for fifth place in the individual standings at 8-under 208 over Suntree’s 6,362-yard, par-72 Classic Course layout.

   The Bayou Tigers took control of the team chase from the outset as they backed up an opening round of 12-under 276 with a 14-under 274, the best team round of the tournament, in Monday’s second round. LSU’s final round of 4-under 284 was more than good enough to hold off Big Ten power Northwestern by nine shots for the team crown.

   The spring portion of Northwestern’s season is off to a great start as the Wildcats were ranked No. 37 going into their spring opener at the UCF Challenge, where they finished in third place, and moved all the way up to No. 19 in the wake of their runnerup finish in the Moon.

   Northwestern added an 8-under 280 in Monday’s second round to their opening-round 281 before closing with a 6-under 282.

   Florida, which lost to LSU in the SEC final at Greystone last spring, was another three shots behind Northwestern in third place with an 18-under 846 total. The Gators, who improved from No. 34 to No. 26 in the Golfstat rankings with their showing in the Moon, opened with a 7-under 281 and added a 283 in Monday’s second round before finishing up with a 282.

   Auburn, which fell to Florida in the SEC semifinals at Greystone last spring, finished another three shots behind the Gators in the Moon with a 15-under 849 total. After opening with a 7-under 281, the Tigers took it a little lower in Monday’s second round with a 10-under 278 that made them LSU’s closest pursuer going into Tuesday’s final round.

   Auburn, which moved up a couple of spots in the Golfstat rankings from No. 17 to No. 15 in the aftermath of the Moon, struggled a little in the final round with a 2-over 290.

   It was Auburn, however, that made the deepest run of the four SEC semifinalists in the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., reaching the semifinals before falling to eventual national champion Stanford.

   LSU advanced to Grayhawk by finishing in a tie for second place with the host Cardinal in the NCAA Stanford Regional, but never got it going in the NCAA Championship. Lindblad, however, finished in a tie for third place in the individual standings.

   Florida’s postseason ran out of steam in the Albuquerque Regional, where the Gators failed to advance as a two seed.

   Michigan State, one of Northwestern’s Big Ten rivals, finished a shot behind Auburn in fifth place in the Moon with a 14-under 850 total as the Spartans closed with the best round of the day in Tuesday’s final round with a 12-under 276. Michigan State, which moved up a couple of spots in the Golfstat rankings from No. 41 to No. 39 in the aftermath of the Moon, had opened with a 3-under 285 before adding a 1-over 289 in Monday’s second round.

   Michigan State’s final-round surge was sparked by Leila Raines, a junior from Galena, Ohio who fired a sizzling 7-under 65 that put her in a playoff with Augusta’s Mirabel Ting, a freshman from Malaysia, for the individual title, each landing on 13-under 203. Raines had recorded back-to-back 3-under 69s in the first two rounds and her 203 total matched the program record for a 54-hole tournament.

   Ting dropped a 54-foot putt on the second hole of the playoff to claim the individual crown.

   Clemson, out of the Atlantic Coast Conference, finished four shots behind Michigan State in sixth place with a 10-under 854 total. The ACC’s Tigers – lot of Tigers roaming around in Melbourne this week – opened with a solid 9-under 279 and matched par in Monday’s second round with a 288 before closing with a 1-under 287.

   Clemson also got a little bump in the rankings, moving up from No. 37 to No. 33 with its performance in the Moon.

   The four teams that finished in a tie for seventh place in the 17-team field at 9-under 855 – the SEC’s Arkansas and Vanderbilt, reigning Big Ten champion Michigan and Central Florida, out of the American Athletic Conference – all fell, at least a little in the Golfstat rankings in the aftermath of pretty solid showings in the Moon.

   Arkansas, which fell from No. 25 to No. 31, added a 4-under 284 in Monday’s second round to its opening-round 285 before closing with a 2-under 286.

   After opening with a 6-under 282, Vanderbilt, which slipped a spot from No. 19 to No. 20, added a 286 in Monday’s second round before finishing up with a 1-under 287.

   Michigan, which fell a spot from No. 33 to No. 34, added a solid 10-under 278 in Monday’s second round to its opening-round 286 before slipping back a little in the final round with a 3-over 291.

   UCF, which fell from No. 21 to No. 25, got off to a good start with a 10-under 278 and added a 284 in Monday’s second round before falling back in the final round with a 6-over 294.

   LSU’s Tejedo had the individual lead going into Tuesday’s final round after adding a 68 in Monday’s second round to her sizzling opening round of 6-under 66 with Lindblad part of a group of four players tied for second place, a shot behind her teammate, after Lindblad added a 5-under 67 in Monday’s second round to her opening-round 68.

   Tejedo struggled to a 2-over 74 in the final round while Lindblad, the low amateur in last spring’s U.S. Women’s Open at the Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C., closed with a 1-over 73 as they finished among a group of five players tied for fifth place at 8-under 208.

   Backing up the top two for the Bayou Tigers were Latanna Stone, a senior from Riverview, Fla. and No. 35 in the Women’s WAGR, and Aina Donegan, a sophomore from Ireland, both of whom landed in the group tied for 13^th place at 5-under 211.

   Stone and Lindblad both contended for the title in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship before ending up in a tie for second place behind California teen Anna Davis. Stone was a member of the U.S. team that defeated Great Britain & Ireland, 15.5-4.5 at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course last summer.

   To sum up Lindblad’s spring of  2022, she finished in a tie for second place in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, won the SEC individual title, finished in a tie for third in the NCAA Championship’s individual chase and was low amateur at the U.S. Women’s Open. How good is that?

   After matching par in the opening round with a 72 at Suntree’s Classic Course, Stone carded a 71 in Monday’s second round before closing with her best round of the tournament, a 4-under 68.

   Donegan also matched par in the opening round before adding a 3-under 69 in Monday’s second round and closing with a 70.

   Rounding out the LSU lineup was Edit Hertzman, a freshman from Sweden who recorded back-to-back 2-under 70s in the first two rounds, both counters for the Bayou Tigers, before closing with a 1-over 73 to finish among the group tied for 23^rd place with a 3-under 213 total.

   Augusta’s Ting trailed LSU’s Tejedo by a shot going into the final round after adding a 5-under 67 in Monday’s second round to her opening-round 68. Another 68 in the final round enabled Ting to match Raines’ 13-under 203 total. When she holed out her 54-foot bomb on the second hole of the playoff, Ting had made her college debut a winning one.

   Florida State’s Lottie Woad, a freshman from England and No. 31 in the Women’s WAGR, finished alone in third place in the individual standings, three shots behind the top two with a 6-under 210 total. Woad had opened with a sparkling 6-under 66 and added a 69 in Monday’s second round before finishing up with a 1-under 71.

   Woad’s country woman and cross-state rival, Florida’s Annabell Fuller, No. 51 in the Women’s WAGR, finished a shot behind Woad in fourth place with a 9-under 207 total. Fuller matched Woad’s 66-69 start before matching par in the final round with a 72.

   Fuller represented Great Britain & Ireland for the third time in last summer’s Curtis Cup Match at Merion.

   Fuller’s Florida teammate Jackie Lucena, a senior from Chico, Calif., Northwestern’s Lauryn Nguyen, a sophomore from Seattle, Wash. and Arkansas’ Kajal Mistry, a junior from South Africa, joined LSU’s Lindblad and Tejedo, in the group tied for fifth place at 8-under 208.

   After opening with a 3-under 69, Lucena added a 1-over 73 in Monday’s second round before finishing with a flourish, a sparkling 6-under 66.

   Nguyen sandwiched an even-par 72 in Monday’s second round with a pair of 4-under 68s. After opening with a 70, Mistry carded a pair of 3-under 69s in the final two rounds.

   Nguyen’s Northwestern teammate, Dianna Lee, a freshman from San Diego, gave the Wildcats another finisher inside the top 10 as she ended up in a tie for 10^th place with Auburn’s Casey Weidenfeld, a redshirt freshman from Pembroke Pines, Fla., and Michigan’s Hailey Borja, a senior from Lake Forest, Calif., each landing on 6-under 210.

   After opening with a 1-over 73, Lee posted a 70 in Monday’s second round before contributing a 5-under 67 to Northwestern’s strong final round.

   Weidenfeld matched par in the opening round with a 72 before registering a solid 4-under 68 in Monday’s second round and closing with a 70. Borja was under par in each round, adding a 3-under 69 to her opening-round 71 and finishing up with a 70.

   Vanderbilt sophomore Natasha Kiel, the New Hope native who was a standout at George School before finishing her scholastic career at the Montverde Academy in Florida, got off to a great start for the Commodores with a 3-under 69 in the opening round.

   Kiel struggled a little in the second round with a 6-over 78 before matching par in the final round with a 72 to finish in the group tied for 57^th place with a 3-over 219 total.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tough spring opener for Temple as USC Aiken captures team crown at Wexford Intercollegiate

   It’s never easy for teams in the northern tier to shake off the rust and come out firing when they open the spring portion of the wraparound college season with a trip to warmer climes.

   Having said that, I suspect Temple head coach Brian Quinn left Hilton Head Island, S.C. a little disappointed after the Owls finished in a tie for 17^th place with Presbyterian in the 18-team field that gathered for the Wexford Intercollegiate, which wrapped up Monday at the Wexford Plantation’s signature Arnold Palmer Course.

   A lot of the teams in the Wexford, hosted by Francis Marion, are from places where they can get out and play a lot more than a team from Philadelphia can. We’ve had a fairly mild winter in southeastern Pennsylvania, but even though the Carolinas aren’t all that far away, they can keep their golf courses in a little more playable condition than is possible here.

   Temple always seems to be at its best in the fall when guys have been playing competitive golf all summer and the college season is just an extension of the prime playing days of the year.

   Temple opened the spring portion of the wraparound 2021-2022 season at the Wexford Intercollegiate with an eighth-place finish. It was not as good a start a year later.

   The goal at Temple is simple: Get as high a finish in the tough American Athletic Conference Championship as possible. Last spring the Owls finished eighth at the Southern Hills Plantation Course in Brooksville, Fla. This spring’s AAC Championship will be held from April 21 to 23 at the Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla.

   There’s work to do for the Owls between now and then.

   Temple got off to a tough start with a 24-over-par 312 over the 6,913, par-72 Wexford Plantation layout in the first round of a double round Monday. The Owls were much better in Monday afternoon’s second round with a 7-over 295, but couldn’t build on their momentum as they closed with a 319 in Tuesday’s final round for a 62-over 926 total.

   The scores were generally pretty high for the entire field in Tuesday’s final round, which probably means the wind was blowing on Hilton Head Island. You have to start the spring sometime and Temple can learn its lessons from Wexford and keep moving on toward the AAC Championship.

   Graham Chase, a junior from Charlotte, N.C., was Temple’s top finisher as he finished among the group tied for 24^th place with an 8-over 224 total.

   Chase, coming off a strong fall during which he posted three top-10 finishes, continued his solid play as he carded a pair of 2-over 74s in Monday’s double round before closing with a 76.

   The Wexford Intercollegiate team crown went to Division II South Carolina Aiken with a lineup that included sophomore Karl Frisk, a three-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Spring Grove.

   After opening with a 5-over 293, the Pacers added a solid 1-over 289 in Monday afternoon’s second round that left them five shots behind tournament host Francis Marion going into Tuesday’s final round.

   South Carolina Aiken closed with a 9-over 297 in Tuesday’s tough conditions and pulled out a five-shot victory over Dayton, out of the Atlantic 10, with a 15-over 829 total.

   Dayton carded its second straight 7-over 295 in Tuesday’s final round after opening with a 294 as the Flyers finished in second place with a 20-over 884 total.

   USC Aiken was led by Leo Bono, a senior from Switzerland who closed with a 2-under 70 that earned him a share of second place in the individual standings with a 2-under 214 total, two shots behind individual champion Grant Sellers, a fifth-year player at Francis Marion from McBee, S.C.

   Bono had opened with a 2-under 70 before adding a 2-over 74 in Monday afternoon’s second round.

   Defending champion Francis Marion, a Southland Conference representative, fell back into a tie for third place with Patriot League entry Richmond, as the Patriots struggled to a final round of 17-over 305 to end up with a 22-over 886 total, two shots behind Dayton.

   Francis Marion had opened with a 9-over 297, but, behind Sellers’ sparkling 5-under 67, the Patriots surged to the lead with a 4-under 284 in Monday afternoon’s second round, matching the low team round of the tournament.

   Sellers had matched par in the opening round with a 72 and took control of the individual chase with his 67 in Monday afternoon’s second round. He closed with a solid 1-over 73 to claim the individual crown with a 4-under 212 total for his first career victory.

   Richmond had the lead after opening with a solid 2-under 286, but the Spiders carded back-to-back 12-over 300s in the final two rounds to join Francis Marion in the tie for third place at 886.

   Richmond was led by Cole Ekert, a sophomore from Chatham, N.C. who got a share of runnerup honors along with USC Aiken’s Bono with a 2-under 214 total. Ekert opened with a 4-under 68, one of only a handful of sub-70 rounds recorded in Monday morning’s first round. He added a 2-over 74 in Monday afternoon’s second round before matching par in the final round with a 72.

   Samford, another Southland Conference entry, finished a shot behind Francis Marion and Richmond in fifth place with an 887 total. After opening with a solid 3-over 291, the Bulldogs added a 299 in Monday afternoon’s second round before finishing up with a 8-over 297.

   East Carolina, one of Temple’s AAC rivals, matched the best team round of the tournament with its final round of 284 as the Pirates climbed the leaderboard to finish in sixth place, four shots behind Samford with a 27-over 891 total. East Carolina had opened with an 11-over 299 before adding a 308 in Monday afternoon’s second round.

   Backing up Bono for USC Aiken was Erik Olin, a sophomore from Sweden who finished among the group of six players tied for eighth place at 3-over 219. Olin sandwiched a solid 3-under 69 in Monday afternoon’s second round with a pair of 3-over 75s.

   Jonah Winter gave USC Aiken a third player inside the top 20 as he finished in the group tied for 18^th place with a 5-over 221 total. Winter recorded a pair of 2-over 74s in Monday’s double round and closed with a solid 1-over 73.

   Oscar Abrahamsson, a junior from Sweden, matched par in Monday afternoon’s second round after opening with a 2-over 74 before struggling a little in the final round with an 80 as he landed in the group tied for 28^th place with a 10-over 226 total for the Pacers.

   Frisk, the Spring Grove product, rounded out the USC Aiken lineup as he finished in a tie for 64^th place with a 234 total. Frisk opened with a 3-over 75 and struggled a little with an 80 in Monday afternoon’s second round before closing with a counting 79 for the Pacers.

   Only individual champion Sellers and co-runnersup Bono and Ekert finished under par for the tournament.

   Mercer’s Tobias Jonsson finished two shots behind Bono and Ekert in fourth place in the individual standings with an even-par 216 total. Jonsson was only a shot behind Sellers following Monday’s double round as he opened with a 3-under 69 and added a 1-under 71 in the afternoon. Jonsson backed off with a final round of 4-over 76.

   Drew Carlin, a freshman from Ashburn, Va., gave Richmond a second finisher in the top five as he landed in a tie for fifth place with Samford’s Andrew Sullivan, a senior from Louisville, Ky., and Radford’s Bryce Corbett, a junior from Gainesville, Va., each ending up with a 2-over 218 total, two shots behind Jonsson.

   Carlin matched par in both tours of the Wexford Plantation layout in Monday’s double round with a pair of 72s before closing with a 2-over 74.

   Sullivan sandwiched a 4-over 76 in Monday afternoon’s second round with a pair of 1-under 71s. After matching par in the opening round with a 72, Corbett carded a pair of 1-over 73s in the final two rounds.

   Backing up Chase for Temple were senior Conor McGrath, an Academy of the New Church product, and sophomore Joey Morganti, a Havertown resident who starred scholastically at St. Joseph’s Prep, both of whom were among the group tied for 51^st place at 15-over 231.

   McGrath, winner of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur in 2021 at Cedarbrook Country Club, has been Temple’s best player for the last couple seasons. After opening with a 6-over 78 at Wexford Plantation, McGrath matched par in Monday afternoon’s second round with a 72 before struggling in Tuesday’s final round with an 81.

   Morganti, a product of the junior program at Llanerch Country Club, opened with a solid 3-over 75 and added a 77 in Monday afternoon’s second round before closing with a 79.

   Rounding out the Temple lineup were Ethan Whitney, a sophomore from Westminster, Mass., and Andres Aranguren, a redshirt sophomore from San Juan, Puerto Rico, both of whom ended up tied for 86^th place at 244.

   Whitney rebounded from an opening-round 85 with a 4-over 76 in Monday afternoon’s second round before closing with an 83. Like Whitney, Aranguren struggled in the first and final rounds, opening with an 86 and closing with an 85, but put together a solid 1-over 73 in Monday afternoon’s second round.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gross surges on back nine to claim victory in AJGA Simplify Boys Championship at Colton Woods

   If you haven’t figured out that Downingtown West junior Nick Gross is one of the best young players in the country, the kid issued another reminder Monday deep in the heart of Texas.

   Entering Monday’s final round of the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) Simplify Boys Championship at Colton Woods at The Club of Colton Woods’ Fazio Championship Course in The Woodlands, Texas in a tie for sixth place, but only three shots out of the lead, Gross littered eight birdies throughout his scorecard in a sizzling 6-under-par 66 that gave him a two-shot victory over many of the best junior golfers in America.

   It was the first AJGA victory in two years for Gross, although he was the runnerup in the Simplify Boys Championship a year ago. But competing in the country’s premier junior golf circuit clearly set Gross up for a sensational summer of 2022.

   Gross had strong showings in the two premier national junior events not associated with the AJGA, reaching the second round of match play in the U.S. Junior Amateur at the Bandon Dunes Resort on the rugged Oregon coastline and then finishing in third place in the Boys Junior PGA Championship at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club in suburban Chicago.

   All of which turned out to be prelude for Gross’ startling run to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur at Ridgewood Country Club, the A.W. Tillinghast gem in Paramus, N.J., a week before his 16^th birthday.

   Gross came home and teed it up in the District One Class AAA Championship at Turtle Creek Golf Course in October, capturing his second individual district crown with a breathtaking 8-under 64 in the final round at the Turtle and leading the Whippets to the first district team crown in the program’s history.

   Gross hit the wall a little in a third-place finish in the PIAA Class AAA Championship at Penn State’s White Course in defense of the state crown he had won at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in 2021.

   He contended throughout AJGA’s premier event, the Rolex Tournament of Champions the week of Thanksgiving at TPC San Antonio’s Canyons Course before struggling a little in the final round and finishing in 10^th place.

   Gross, who announced last fall that he has made a verbal commitment to join the program at Southeastern Conference power Alabama in the summer of 2024, was back in Texas for a Presidents Day weekend event, one of longest-running tournaments on the AJGA schedule.

   I’m sure Gross has made the most of his chances to get out and play and practice on simulators. We’ve had a mild winter in southeastern Pennsylvania, but sneaking out for a quick round at his home course of Kennett Square Golf & Country Club isn’t quite the same as teeing it up against a field of the top junior players in the country.

   Gross carded a 2-under 70 over the 7,322-yard, par-72 Fazio Championship Course at Carlton Woods in Saturday’s opening round. A solid 3-under 69 in Sunday’s second round left him at 5-under, three shots behind co-leaders Bryan Kim of Brookeville, Md., who plans to join the program at Atlantic Coast Conference power Duke this summer, and Preston Stout of Richardson, Texas, who is headed for Big 12 power Oklahoma State this summer.

   Kim had opened with a 5-under 67 before adding a 69 in Sunday’s second round to get it to 8-under going into Monday’s final round. Stout had opened with a 71, but surged to a share of the 36-hole lead on the strength of a 7-under 65 in Sunday’s second round, the best individual round of the tournament.

   Turned out Gross, who came to Carlton Woods at No. 4 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings, was just lurking.

   He opened the final round with back-to-back birdies at the second and third holes and, after a bogey at five, went back-to-back again with birdies at seven and eight. A bogey at the ninth hole left Gross at 7-under for the tournament.

   Gross then proceeded to pull away on the back nine. Birdies at the 11^th and 13^th holes got him to 9-under and then Gross went back-to-back one last time with birdies at 16 and 17 for a 66 that enabled him to finish with an 11-under 205 total.

   “I had good vibes coming in, but to be able to pull it out this year is pretty special,” Gross told the AJGA website. “It’s my first AJGA win in 14 months, so pretty proud of that.

   “There’s a lot of talent out here, so when you do win, it’s special because you know how tough it is to do. So, I’m really happy and really proud.”

   Gross’ closest pursuer turned out to be Ethan Fang, a University of California recruit from Plano, Texas. Fang carded a third straight 3-under 69 to finish in second place with a 9-under 208 total, two shots behind Gross. Fang was tied for the lead with Gross when Fang reached 9-under, with a birdie at the 11^th hole, but he was unable to match Gross’ two late birdies.

   Stout matched par in the final round with a 72 to finish in a tie for third place with Ethan Gao, a Stanford recruit from Alpharetta, Ga., and Boston Bracken of Saint George, Utah who plans to join the program at one of Stanford’s Pac-12 rivals, Arizona State, in the summer of 2024, as all three landed on 8-under 208, a shot behind Fang.

   Gao had added a 3-under 69 in Sunday’s second round to his opening-round 71 before closing with a 4-under 68. Bracken closed with his second straight 3-under 69 after opening with a 70.

   Kim struggled a little in the final round, closing with a 2-over 74, to finish in a tie for sixth place with Nicolas Dominguez Alvarez of Winter Garden, Fla. via Mexico, each ending up at 6-under 210.

   Dominguez Alvarez, who will join the program at Missouri in the SEC later this summer, sandwiched a 4-under 68 in Sunday’s second round with a pair of 1-under 71s.

   Rocco Salvitti, a four-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Pittsburgh Central Catholic, finished alone in 65^th place with an 11-over 227 total. Salvitti, who will join the program at rising ACC power Notre Dame this summer, opened with a 4-over 76, added his best round of the weekend, a 2-over 74, in Sunday’s second round and finished up with a 77.

 

 

 

Oregon springs back into action by overtaking Stanford to claim team crown in Therese Hession Regional Challenge

   The Pac-12 has always been one of the best conferences in women’s college golf.

   Makes sense. Lots of warm weather where women can play year round. Stanford, the L.A. schools, Southern California and UCLA, Arizona and Arizona State, even Washington have all produced their share of national champions and standout individuals.

   Another player arrived on the scene in the Pac-12 in the last couple of years, particularly last year when Oregon won the first conference crown in program history and made it all the way to the Final Match in the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. before falling, 3-2, to perennial Pac-12 power Stanford.

   The awakening of the sleeping giant can be traced back to the 2018 hiring of Derek Radley, who had been an associate head coach for 2017-2018 national champion Arizona, as the head coach at Oregon.

   I have to believe Radley’s chief lieutenant, Monica Vaughn, has had a little something to do with the rapid ascension of the Ducks as well.

   Vaughn isn’t all that far removed from the college game herself as she was the individual national champion while leading Arizona State to the team crown in the 2016-’17 season in some brutally cold spring weather at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.

   Not sure if Vaughn, an Oregon native from Reedsport, ever had her sights set on a pro career, but she has settled in nicely with the Oregon program. Have to think she’ll be on a few short lists if any head coaching jobs come open in the next couple of years.

   When Oregon rallied in the final round to overtake Stanford for the team crown in the Therese Hession Regional Challenge, presented by Northrop Grumann, which wrapped up Tuesday at the Palos Verdes Golf Club in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif., it was the seventh tournament win for the Ducks under Radley, all of them coming since the spring of 2021.

   Stanford has been sitting atop the Golfstat rankings ever since Rose Zhang arrived on campus in the fall of 2021 and the Cardinal’s victory over Oregon in the Final Match at Grayhawk last spring validated their status as the best team in Division I women’s golf.

   But Oregon, which moved up from No. 5 to No. 3 in the Golfstat rankings in the wake of its Therese Hession Regional Challenge victory, has never been far behind these last two seasons.

   The Ducks made the most of their home-course advantage to take the title in the Pac-12 Championship last spring at Eugene Country Club. After claiming the team title in the NCAA Albuquerque Regional, Oregon was second behind Stanford in the four rounds of qualifying for match play at Grayhawk.

   Don’t think Stanford was all that surprised to see the Ducks waiting for it in the Final Match.

   The event at Palos Verdes was known as the Northrop Grumann Regional Challenge before this year and has become one of the premier tournaments on the women’s college golf scene, a harbinger of what is to come in the spring sprint to the postseason.

   Ohio State has always been the host and the event was renamed for the longtime Buckeyes head coach. Hession became the director of golf for the men’s and women’s programs at Ohio State in 2018 after 27 years as the head coach of the women’s team. She retired last year.

   Hession was succeeded by Lisa Strom, the 1994 PIAA champion at Lansdale Catholic who starred at Ohio State under Hession and played on the LPGA Tour.

   Stanford was without two of its stars at Palos Verdes as 2021 NCAA individual champion Rachel Heck, a junior from Memphis, Tenn. and No. 12 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), and Brooke Seay, a senior from San Diego and No. 38 in the Women’s WAGR, did not tee it up.

   The Stanford website cited injuries for their absences, which is more than you usually get out of a college website, but it’s not like there’s an injury report for women’s college golf. Hopefully, it’s nothing serious because they are two players who would be unquestioned No. 1 players on a lot of Division I rosters.

   Stanford, of course, still has Zhang, the unquestioned No. 1 player in the Women’s WAGR, for what, three years now. The sophomore from Irvine, Calif. was the individual champion for the eighth time in her 15^th career college start, including the NCAA individual crown she won at Grayhawk last spring. Zhang cruised to a three-shot victory with a 6-under-par 207 total over the 6,017-yard, par-71 Palos Verdes layout.

   But with Heck and Seay sitting this one out, the team title was there for the taking and Oregon seized the day.

   Trailing Stanford by eight shots and in a tie for fourth place entering Tuesday’s final round, Oregon, behind a 3-under 68 from junior Ashleigh Park, another Irvine, Calif. kid who transferred to Eugene from Texas, and a 2-under 69 from individual runnerup Ching-Tzu Chen, a senior from Taiwan, the Ducks ripped off a 4-under 280, the low team round for the week, to blow past the rest of the field.

   Oregon had opened with a 4-over 288 and added a 6-over 290 in Monday’s second round. The strong finish by the Ducks left them with a 6-over 858 total.

   Cold-weather gear was very much in evidence from the still photos I saw from Palos Verdes, so there was a late-winter chill in the air by Southern California standards.

   The top-ranked Cardinal had opened with a 2-over 286 and matched par in Monday’s second round with a 284 to take a two-shot lead over Mountain West Conference power San Jose State into the final round.

   But Stanford struggled a little in the final round, closing with a 9-over 293 and settling for runnerup honors, five shots behind Oregon with an 11-over 863 total.

   Zhang was Zhang, carding a pair of 3-under 68s in the first two rounds to take a two-shot lead over Texas’ Sophie Guo, a senior from Orlando, Fla., and San Jose State’s Lucia Lopez-Ortega, a sophomore from Spain, into Tuesday’s final round.

   Zhang matched par in the final round with a 71 to end up at 6-under, three shots clear of the trio of Oregon’s Chen, Texas’ Guo and Baylor’s Silje Ohma, a freshman from Norway.

   Another Pac-12 power, Southern California, and Baylor, out of the Big 12, finished a shot behind Stanford in a tie for third place, each landing on 12-over 864.

   The Trojans, who improved from No. 23 to No. 15 in the Golfstat rankings off their showing in the Therese Hession, opened with a 6-over 290 and added back-to-back 3-over 287s in a solid showing.

   The Bears, who moved into the Golfstat top 10 at No. 10 after entering the Therese Hession at No. 18, had the lead following an opening round of 2-under 282. But Baylor struggled a little in Monday’s second round with a 297 before finishing up with a solid 1-over 285.

   San Jose State finished four shots behind Southern Cal and Baylor in fifth place with a 16-over 868 total, moving up from No. 7 to No. 4 in the Golfstat rankings. If there was a bigger surprise than Oregon’s postseason run a year ago, it just might have been the spring the Spartans had as they won the team crown in the Ann Arbor Regional and reached the match-play bracket in the NCAA Championship before falling to the Ducks, 4-1, in the quarterfinals at Grayhawk.

   San Jose State was just two shots behind Stanford going into the final round after posting back-to-back 2-over 286s in the first two rounds. The Spartans struggled a little in the final round with a 12-over 296, but it seems pretty clear that they mean business again this spring.

   It was a pretty nice showing for Strom’s host Buckeyes as the Big Ten power finished three shots behind San Jose State in sixth place in the elite field of 16 teams with a 19-over 871 total. After opening with a solid 2-over 286, Ohio State added an 8-over 292 in Monday’s second round before finishing up with a 293.

   The Buckeyes’ strong showing in the event renamed to honor the best coach in the history of the program enabled them to move into the Golfstat top 25 at No. 24 after entering the Therese Hession at No. 35.

   Chen opened with a 3-under 68, slipped back a little with a 2-over 73 in Monday’s second round, but finished strong with her 2-under 69 to get a share of second place with a 3-under 210 total and lead Oregon to the team crown.

   Backing up Chen for the Ducks was Briana Chacon, a senior from Whittier, Calif. and No. 79 in the Women’s WAGR who finished in the group tied for 20^th place with a 5-over 218 total. Chacon carded back-to-back 1-over 72s in the first two rounds before closing with a 3-over 74.

   Oregon has a really nice addition plucked from the junior college ranks in Minori Nagano, a junior from Japan who finished among the group tied for 27^th place with a 7-over 220 total.

   Nagano, who was the junior college national champion in 2021 and 2022 while leading Seminole State to the team crown in both years, struggled a little in the opening round with a 5-over 76. But she matched par in the second round with a 71 and contributed a steady 2-over 73 in the final round.

   Junior Cynthia Lu, part of Oregon’s Taiwan Connection along with Chen and No. 29 in the Women’s WAGR, finished among the group tied for 31^st place with an 8-over 221 total. After struggling to a 6-over 77 in the opening round, Lu bounced back with a 74 in Monday’s second round before closing with a crucial 2-under 70.

   Rounding out the Oregon lineup was Park, who finished in the group tied for 37^th place with a 9-over 222 total. A veteran of Texas’ run to the NCAA Championship quarterfinals as a freshman in 2021, Park opened with a solid 1-over 72 at Palos Verdes, but then struggled mightily to an 82 in Monday’s second round.

   But Park put that round in the rear-view mirror and was the low Duck in Tuesday’s final round with an extremely clutch 3-under 68.

   Texas’ Guo was just two shots behind Zhang in the individual chase after carding back-to-back 2-under 69s in the first two rounds before closing with a 1-over 72 to finish among the trio tied for second place at 3-under 210.

   Ohma sparked the fast start for Baylor as she fired the best individual round of the week, a 5-under 66, in the opening round to grab the individual lead. She added a 2-over 73 in Monday’s second round before matching par in the final round with a 71 to join Guo and Oregon’s Chen for a share of runnerup honors.

   Three players who I had a chance to watch in last summer’s 42^nd Curtis Cup Match at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course in the Ardmore section of Haverford Township, Kentucky’s Jensen Castle, a senior from West Columbia, S.C. and No. 24 in the Women’s WAGR, Stanford’s Megha Ganne, a freshman from Holmdel, N.J. and No. 57 in the Women’s WAGR, and Florida’s Annabell Fuller, a senior from Florida and No. 54 in the Women’s WAGR, were among a group of six players tied for fifth place at even-par 213.

   After opening with a 2-over 73, Castle, winner of the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y. in 2021, matched par in Monday’s second round with a 71 before closing with a solid 2-under 69.

   Ganne, one of the top freshmen in the country, posted back-to-back 1-under 70s before finishing up with a 2-over 73.

   Fuller, a member of the Great Britain & Ireland team at Merion, matched Ganne’s splits with a pair of 1-under 70s in the first two rounds and a 2-over 73 in the final round.

   Ganne’s Stanford teammates, Zhang and Heck, were also on the winning U.S. side at Merion last year, as was Castle. That Curtis Cup was a tremendous opportunity for those of us who follow the women’s game to see the future of women’s golf up close in the wonderful setting that is Merion in June.

   There were two more players who teed it up in that Curtis Cup in the group of five players tied for 12^th place at 2-over 215, Team USA’s Amari Avery, a sophomore at Southern California from Riverside, Calif. and No. 8 in the Women’s WAGR, and GB&I’s Caley McGinty, a redshirt junior at Ohio State from England and No. 25 in the Women’s WAGR. Just so many talented players on those two teams.

   Rounding out the group of six players tied for fifth place at even-par were San Jose State’s Lopez-Ortega, Ohma’s Baylor teammate, Rosie Belsham, a junior from England, and Avery’s Southern California teammate Cindy Kou, a sophomore  from China.

   Lopez-Ortega was just two shots behind Zhang in the individual chase after recording back-to-back 2-under 69s in the first two rounds. She cooled off a little with a 4-over 75 in the final round.

   Belsham carded back-to-back 2-over 73s in the first two rounds before zooming up the leaderboard with a final round of 4-under 67. After opening with a 1-over 72, Kou registered a solid 3-under 68 in Monday’s second round before closing with a 2-over 73.

   McGinty’s Ohio State teammate, Kary Hollenbaugh, a freshman from New Albany, Ohio, finished alone in 11^th place with a 1-over 214 total. Hollenbaugh, who reached the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship with her New Albany High teammate Anna Ritter last spring at the Grand Reserve Golf Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, opened with a solid 3-under 68 and added a 1-over 72 in Monday’s second round before closing with a 74.

   Nice to see Kaitlyn Lees, a graduate student at Georgetown who was a three-time Inter-Ac League champion during an outstanding scholastic career at Agnes Irwin, in the lineup for the Hoyas.

   Lees finished in the group tied for 67^th place with a 232 total as she struggled in Monday’s second round with an 83 after opening with a solid 3-over 74. She bounced back in the final round with a 4-over 75.

   Georgetown, out of the Big East, finished last of the 16 teams in the elite field, but there is no downside to playing that kind of competition and the Hoyas were steady, adding a 304 in Monday’s second round to their opening-round 303 before closing with a 302 for a 909 total.

   I lost track of Lees in a busy spring a year ago, but she and Esther Park, a product of the Charter School of Wilmington in Delaware, both finished in a tie for 10^th place to help Georgetown finish in second place behind Xavier in the Big East Championship at the Callaway Resort & Gardens in Pine Mountain, Ga.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nicholas leads the way as Drexel opens spring campaign with victory in Advance Golf Partners Collegiate

   The Drexel Dragon emerged from a long winter’s nap breathing fire.

   Opening the spring portion of the wraparound 2022-2023 season at the Advance Golf Partners Collegiate, which wrapped up Tuesday at the Hammock Creek Golf Club in Palm City, Fla., Drexel pulled out a three-shot victory over host North Carolina Greensboro.

   Drexel was led, as usual, by talented junior Drue Nicholas, the St. Augustine Prep product from Egg Harbor Township, N.J. who finished in a tie for second place in the individual standings behind runaway winner Nick Lyerly, a UNCG graduate student from Salisbury, N.C.

   But head coach Ben Feld’s Dragons also got two other top-10 finishes as Griffin Mitchell, a junior from New Albany, Ohio ended up alone in fifth place and Tafadzwa Nyamukondiwa, a junior from Zimbabwe, landed among a trio of players tied for ninth place.

   It all started with Nicholas, though, as his first competitive round of the spring was a spectacular 6-under-par 66 over the 7,169-yard, par-72 Hammock Creek layout. Sunday’s opening round was played in difficult conditions with the winds of a Florida February howling, none of which seemed to bother Nicholas.

   Nicholas started his college career on the fast track toward a pro career at Atlantic Coast Conference power North Carolina State. But he changed his plan with a focus on a career in finance and came home to Drexel, where he has been the best Division I college player in the Philadelphia area for more than a year now.

   Gaining some momentum from a dramatic playoff victory over BMW Philadelphia Amateur champion Michael R. Brown Jr. in the Patterson Cup, one of the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s major championships, at St. Davids Golf Club in August, Nicholas had a strong fall campaign at Drexel.

   Nicholas closed out the fall with a runnerup finish in the ODU/OBX Intercollegiate at Kilmaric Golf Club in Powells Point, N.C. in defense of the individual crown he had won there a year earlier and then claimed medalist honors with a 3-under 69 at Tavistock Country Club in leading the Dragons to the team crown in the City 6 Championship.

   Nicholas was still atop the leaderboard after carding a 4-under 68 at Hammock Creek in Monday’s second round, a shot clear of Lyerly, who is No. 91 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and blitzed the Hammock Creek layout with a sizzling 8-under 64 in the second round.

   Nicholas ran out of gas a little in Tuesday’s final round, but his 5-over 77 still left him in a tie for second place, seven shots behind Lyerly with a 5-under 211 total.

   Nicholas’ strong opening round helped Drexel post a 5-over 293. A 1-under 287 in Monday’s second round left the Dragons tied for second place, three shots behind UNCG, a Southern Conference representative that began the week at No. 50 in the Golfstat rankings, but fell back to No. 59 in the aftermath of the Advance Golf Partners.

   With Mitchell, among others, picking up Nicholas by recording a final round of 4-under 68, Drexel, No. 126 in the Golfstat rankings, closed with a 5-under 283 to finish with a 1-under 863 total.

   UNCG closed with a 1-over 289 as the Spartans earned runnerup honors with a 2-over 866 total.

   “What an unbelievable moment for the entire Drexel golf family,” Feld, who earned himself a trip to the U.S. Amateur at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J. last summer, told the Drexel website. “Our guys work so hard and care so deeply about our purpose and each other. We knew we were going to have some level of rust coming out of our winter, but we committed to one another that we were going to be the toughest and scrappiest team in the field this week and we fought like crazy until the end.

   “Our guys are confident and to beat that field in our first event of the spring reconfirms that all of the goals we have set are fully within our reach. So proud of these incredible young men. We’ve just got to keep getting a little better each day.”

   There is really only one goal for a Colonial Athletic Association team like Drexel: Win the team title at the CAA Championship and earn a guaranteed spot in an NCAA regional.

   The Dragons were a distant third behind conference champion College of Charleston last spring at the Dataw Island Club’s Cotton Dike Course on St. Helena Island, S.C. and six shots behind runnerup UNCG. Nicholas finished in a tie for fourth place in the individual standings.

   There’s a long road to this spring’s CAA Championship, which returns to Dataw Island in late April, but Drexel’s victory in the Advance Golf Partners this week is definitely a stop in the right direction.

   Behind Lyerly’s spectacular 64 in the second round, UNCG surged with a 6-under 282 that gave the Spartans a three-shot lead over Drexel and Butler heading into Tuesday’s final round, but they were unable to hold off the charge by the Dragons.

   A couple of Big East entries, DePaul and Butler, accounted for the next two spots in the team standings as the Blue Demons finished in third place, three shots behind UNCG with a 5-over 869 total, and the Bulldogs were fourth, another four shots behind DePaul with a 9-over 873 total.

   DePaul opened with a 9-over 297 and added a 4-over 292 in Monday’s second round before closing with the best team round of the tournament, an 8-under 280.

   Butler had the lead after matching par in the opening round with a 288 and was tied for second place with Drexel after adding a 4-over 292 in Monday’s second round. The Bulldogs finished up with a 5-over 293.

   Another CAA entry, Elon, was a shot behind Butler in fifth place with a 10-over 874 total as the Phoenix bounced back from an opening-round 303 with a 1-over 289 in Monday’s second round before closing with a solid 6-under 282 in the final round.

   Elon was led by Matt Doyle, a sophomore from Summerville, S.C. who recorded a sparkling 7-under 65 in the final round to get a share of second place with Drexel’s Nicholas.

   It was also the spring opener for Villanova, another Big East entry, and the Wildcats, the runnerup to Drexel in the City 6 Championship at Tavistock last fall, finished in 13^th place in the 19-team field with a 35-over 899 total. Villanova had a little trouble shaking off the rust from the midseason pause as it added a 304 in Monday’s second round to an opening-round 303 before finishing up with a 4-over 292.

   It was a strong showing for Mitchell as he registered back-to-back 1-over 73s in the first two rounds before that final-round 68 that was so critical for Drexel and left him alone in fifth place with a 2-under 214.

   After opening with a 3-over 75 in the tough opening-round conditions, Nyamukondiwa carded a solid 2-under 70 in Monday’s second round before finishing up with a 71 that earned him a top-10 finish, his even-par 216 total leaving him a tie for ninth place.

   Brockton English, a sophomore from Shelby Township, Mich., struggled a little in the first two rounds, adding a 76 in Monday’s second round after opening with a 79 before finishing up with a 2-over 74 that left him in the group tied for 70^th place with a 229 total. All three of English’s scores, however, were counters for the Dragons.

   Rounding out the Drexel lineup was Oscar Maxfield, a graduate student from Salt Lake City, Utah who transferred to Drexel from Utah. Maxfield also struggled in the first two rounds at Hammock Creek, adding an 80 in Monday’s second round to his opening-round 86. But Maxfield came up huge in the final round with a 2-under 70 that was crucial to putting Drexel over the top.

   Senior Liam Hart, the 2017 PIAA Class AAA champion as a junior at Holy Ghost Prep, competed as an individual for Drexel and finished in a tie for 50^th place with a 10-over 226 total. After opening with a solid 2-under 70, Hart posted a 3-over 75 in Monday’s second round before struggling to an 81 in the final round.

   Lyerly represented UNCG as an individual in the NCAA Palm Beach Regional last spring and made a splash by grabbing the lead following an opening round of 5-under 67 at PGA National’s Champions Course.

   Lyerly trailed Drexel’s Nicholas by five shots at Hammock Creek after opening with a 1-under 71, but crept within a shot of Nicholas with his 8-under 64 in Monday’s second round. Lyerly closed with a solid 3-under 69 for a 12-under 204 total.

   Elon’s Doyle had opened with a 3-over 75 and added a 1-under 71 in Monday’s second round before his fast finish enabled him to get a share of second place with Nicholas at 5-under.

   Samford’s Matthew Smith, a freshman from Oklahoma City, Okla., finished a shot behind Nicholas and Doyle in fourth place with a 3-under 213 total as he matched par with a 72 in the opening round, added a 71 in Monday’s second round and closed with a 2-under 70.

   Three players – Valparaiso’s Caleb VanArrogan, a senior from Blaine, Minn., Butler’s Damon Dickey, a sophomore from Franklin, Ind., and Queens University of Charlotte’s Ollie Smith, a senior from England – finished a shot behind Drexel’s Mitchell in a tie for sixth place, each landing on 1-under 215.

   VanArragon bounced back from an opening-round 78 with a 5-under 67 in Monday’s second round before finishing up with a 2-under 70. Dickey opened with a solid 2-under 70 and added a 1-over 73 in Monday’s second round before matching par in the final round with a 72. Ollie Smith added a 2-under 70 in Monday’s second round to his opening-round 71 before closing with a 2-over 74.

   Joining Drexel’s Nyamukondiwa in the trio tied for ninth place at even-par 216 were DePaul’s Artemly Yalovenko, a senior from Russia, and Old Dominion’s Jakob Henriksson, a junior from Sweden.

   Yalovenko added a 75 in Monday’s second round to his opening round of 1-over 73 before finishing strong with a 4-under 68. Henriksson added a solid 3-under 69 in Monday’s second round to his opening-round 74 before closing with a 1-over 73.

   Leading the way for Villanova was Ryan Pamer, a freshman from Hudson, Ohio who is coming off a strong start to his college career in the spring. After opening with a 75, Pamer added a 1-over 73 in Monday’s second round before matching par in the final round with a 72 that left him in the group tied for 18^th place with a 4-over 220 total.

   Peter Weaver, a senior from Frontenac, Mo., also had a solid week for the Wildcats as he finished among the group tied for 24^th place with a 5-over 221 total. Weaver carded a 1-under 71 in the tough opening-round conditions, added a 76 in Monday’s second round and closed with a 2-over 74.

   Jonathan Elkins, a junior from South Deerfield, Mass., bounced back from an opening-round 79 by posting back-to-back 1-over 73s in the final two rounds to finish in the group tied for 45^th place with a 225 total.

   Vimal Alokam, a sophomore from Ypsilanti, Mich., finished in the group tied for 91^st place with a 235 total as struggled to an 82 in Monday’s second round after opening with a 78 before closing with his best round of the week, a 3-over 75.

   Rounding out the Villanova lineup was Jason Lohwater, a graduate student from Rochester, N.Y. who finished in the group tied for 107^th place with a 240 total. Lohwater, who transferred to the Main Line after a four-year career at Bucknell, struggled in the first two rounds, adding an 84 in Monday’s second round to his opening-round 83, but found his groove in the final round with a solid 1-over 73.

   Kyle Kinnane, a graduate student from Anaheim Hills, Calif. who transferred to Villanova after a four-year career at Loyola Marymount, and Josh Lavely, a freshman from Kewadin, Mich., competed as individuals at Hammock Creek.

   Kinnane added a 79 in Monday’s second round to his opening-round 77 before struggling to a final-round 87 that left him in a tie for 112^th place with a 243 total. Lavely’s best round was a 4-over 76 in Monday’s second round. He opened with an 83 and closed with an 85 to finish a shot behind Kinnane in the group tied for 114^th place with a 244 total.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Delavallade leads the way as Penn State finishes fourth in Columbia Classic

   Penn State junior Mathilde Delavallade of France struggled a little in the opener of the spring portion of the wraparound 2022-2023 season for the Nittany Lions as she finished in 71^st place in the UCF Challenge at Eagle Creek Golf Club in Orlando.

   But Delavallade bounced right back this weekend, opening the Columbia Classic at Duran Golf Club in Melbourne, Fla. with a 3-under-par 69. The Columbia Classic was scheduled to be a three-round event, but Sunday’s second round was washed out by heavy rain and windy conditions.

   The Penn State guys got in the final round of the VyStar Credit Union Gators Invitational Sunday in Gainesville, Fla., but the rain that went south of Gainesville did not miss Melbourne, which is on Florida’s East Coast, just below Orlando.

   Delavallade closed with a 3-over 75 in chilly and windy conditions in Monday’s final round to finish in a group of four players tied for sixth place with an even-par 144 total over the 6,357-yard, par-72 Duran layout and help Penn State end up with an encouraging fourth-place finish in the team standings.

   This is probably Penn State’s best team since the senior trio of Jackie Rogowicz, Cara Basso and Lauren Waller wrapped up their careers in the spring of 2019. Getting an at-large bid to the NCAA Regionals has been elusive for Penn State, which plays out of the Big Ten.

   That 2018-’19 team entered the Big Ten Championship at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio ranked 49th, but an 11^th-place finish in the team standings probably cost the Nittany Lions a chance to make it to regionals.

   Four years later, Penn State was No. 70 in the latest Golfstat rankings going into the Columbia Classic. In addition to Delavallade, head coach Denise St. Pierre’s starting lineup included fifth-year players Taylor Waller, Lauren’s younger sister and, like her big sis, a product of Canon-McMillan, and Sarah Willis of Eaton, Ohio as well as senior Isha Dhruva of Katy, Texas.

   Making a run at an NCAA Regional appearance will be a big hill for this group to climb, but Penn State certainly has some experience. And its fourth-place finish in the Columbia Classic was a step in the right direction.

   The highest-ranked team in the Columbia Classic, No. 31 Texas Tech out of the Big 12, claimed the team crown, the Red Raiders overcoming reigning Ivy League champion Princeton, ranked 72^nd, in Monday’s final round with a 3-under 285 that gave them a 5-under 571 total.

   Texas Tech had recorded a 2-under 286 in Saturday’s opening round and trailed the Tigers by four shots as Princeton opened with a solid 6-under 282, the low team round of the weekend. Princeton added a 6-over 294 in Monday’s final round to finish five shots behind the Red Raiders in second place with an even-par 576 total.

   Three players shared medalist honors in the individual chase at 2-under 142, Texas Tech’s Anna Dong, a senior from China, and a pair of Princeton players, Catherine Rao, a freshman from Camarillo, Calif., and Victoria Liu, a sophomore from Canada.

   Dong closed with a solid 2-under 70 after matching par in the opening round with a 72 to claim the first individual title of her career.

   Liu was tied for the lead with two other players, including Penn State’s Delavallade, after carding a 3-under 69 in Saturday’s opening round. She added a 1-over 73 in Monday’s final round to get a share of the title, the fourth of her career, including the individual Ivy League crown she won last spring at the Ridge at Back Brook in Ringoes, N.J.

   Rao had opened with a 1-over 73, but came on strong with a 3-under 69, the only sub-70 round of Monday’s final round, to get her share of the individual title, the first of her career.

   Texas Tech and Princeton both teed it up in the NCAA Stanford Regional last spring, the Red Raiders getting an at-large berth and the Tigers punching their ticket by capturing the Ivy League title.

   Tulsa, an American Athletic Conference entry and No. 34 in the Golfstat rankings, finished four shots behind Princeton in third place with a 4-over 580 total. The Golden Hurricane closed with a solid 2-under 286 after registering a 6-over 294 in Saturday’s opening round.

   Penn State added a 5-over 293 in Monday’s final round to its opening round of 7-over 295 to finish eight shots behind Tulsa in fourth place with a 12-over 588 total.

   No. 87 Notre Dame, out of the tough Atlantic Coast Conference, finished a shot behind Penn State in fifth place with a 13-over 589 total. The Fighting Irish added a 6-over 294 in Monday’s final round to their opening-round 295.

   Texas Tech had a couple of freshmen who contended for the individual title as Shannon Tan of Singapore and No. 68 in the Women's World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and Lauren Zaretsky of Canada finished in a tie for fourth place, a shot behind the top three with a 1-under 143 total.

   Tan carded a 1-under 71 in Monday’s final round after matching par in the opening round with a 72. Zaretsky opened with a 2-under 70 and then finished up with a 1-over 73.

   Texas Tech’s Gala Dumez, a junior from France, matched par in the opening round with a 72 and finished up with a 2-over 74 to finish among the group tied for 14^th place with a 2-over 146 total.

   Rounding out the Texas Tech lineup was Chiara Horder, a sophomore from Germany who finished in a tie for 18^th place with a 3-over 147 total. After opening with a 4-over 76, Horder contributed a crucial 1-under 71 to the Red Raiders’ strong finish in Monday’s final round.

   Texas Tech also got a strong showing from Cecilie Nielsen, a senior from Denmark who competed as an individual and finished among a group of four players tied for 10^th place with a 1-over 145 total. Nielsen matched par in the opening round with a 72 before adding a 1-over 73 in Monday’s final round.

   Joining Penn State’s Dellavallade in the quartet tied for sixth place at even-par 144, a shot behind Texas Tech’s Tan and Zaretsky, were a pair of Notre Dame players, Montgomery Ferreira, a sophomore from Tacoma, Wash., and Chloe Schiavone, a junior from Jacksonville, Fla., and Tulsa’s Sydney Seigel, a sophomore from Phoenix, Ariz. Ferreira, Schiavone and Seigel each matched par with 72s in both rounds.

   Joining Texas Tech’s Nielsen in the quartet tied for 10^th place in the individual standings were a pair of Tulsa players, Lily Thomas, a senior from Bentonville, Ark., and Grace Kilcrease, a freshman from Springdale, Ark., and Princeton’s Tiffany Kong, a senior from Canada.

   Thomas, who represented Tulsa while competing as an individual in the NCAA Stillwater Regional last spring, finished up with a 1-under 71 in Monday’s final round after opening with a 74. Kilcrease matched par in the opening round with a 72 before adding a 1-over 73.

   Kong opened with a solid 1-under 71 before finishing up with a 2-over 74 in Monday’s final round.

   Backing up Dellavallade for Penn State was Waller, who closed with a solid 1-under 71 after opening with a 75 to finish among the group tied for 14lth place with a 2-over 146 total.

   Dhruva bounced back from an opening-round 76 by matching par in Monday’s final round with a 72 as she gave Penn State a third finisher inside the top 20, ending up in the group tied for 20^th place with a 4-over 148 total.

   Willis posted a pair of 3-over 75s to finish in the group tied for 29^th place with a 6-over 150 total.

   Rounding out the Penn State lineup was Drew Nienhaus, a sophomore from St. Louis, Mo., as she recorded a pair of 4-over 76s for an 8-over 152 total that left her in the group tied for 36^th place.

   Sophomore Michelle Cox, a three-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a high school standout at Emmaus, competed as an individual in the Columbia Classic. After struggling to an 87 in Saturday’s opening round, Cox bounced back with a 3-over 75 in Monday’s final round to finish in the group tied for 65^th place with a 162 total.

   Notre Dame senior Caroline Wrigley, the 2018 PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at North Allegheny, also struggled in the opening round with an 83, but bounced back with a 2-over 74 in Monday’s final round to finish among the group tied for 54^th place with a 157 total. Wrigley began her college career at Furman before transferring to Notre Dame.

   Richmond, out of the Patriot League, finished in ninth place in the team standings with a couple of Philadelphia region players in the starting lineup. The Spiders added a 306 in Monday’s final round to their opening-round 309 for a 39-over 615 total.

   Freshman Hannah Lydic, the Sussex Academy product coming off a solid start to her college career for Richmond in the fall, bounced back from an opening-round 80 with a solid 1-over 73 in Monday’s final round to finish in the group tied for 41^st place with a 153 total.

   Sophomore Lauren Jones, who won the Inter-Ac League’s individual championship in the spring of 2021 to cap an outstanding career at Episcopal Academy, opened with a 6-over 78 and added an 81 in Monday’s final round to finish in a tie for 60^th place with a 159 total for Richmond.

   Horizon League representative Youngstown State, with a couple of former scholastic standouts from western Pennsylvania in the lineup, finished in 12^th place in the 14-team field as the Penguins added a 312 in Monday’s final round to their opening-round 316 for a 628 total.

   Junior Madie Smithco, the PIAA Class AA champion in 2017 and again in ’18 while playing for North Catholic, finished in the group tied for 41^st place with a 9-over 153 total. Smithco bounced back from an opening-round 80 with a 1-over 73 in Monday’s final round.

   Senior Danae Rugola was a three-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Uniontown, finishing in a tie for second place behind Wrigley as a junior in 2018. Rugola added an 84 in Monday’s final round after opening with an 81 to finish in the group tied for 69^th place with a 165 total for Youngstown State.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Barbin heads foursome of recent GAP junior standouts in the individual standings at Gators Invitational

   Got a chance to catch some of the final of the 2019 Golf Association of Philadelphia Junior Boys’ Championship at Coatesville Country Club.

   It featured a battle between Austin Barbin and Patrick Sheehan, neither of whom hit it like juniors. The cozy confines of Coatesville, a really neat old-style layout, but one that only measures a little over 6,200 yards, was nearly too short to contain the games Barbin and Sheehan put on display.

   When Barbin, a member of the golfing Barbin family of Elkton, Md., went off in the middle of the scheduled 18-hole match, going 6-under for a stretch of six holes, he rolled to a 5 and 4 victory, just one of several trophies Barbin put his name on in a dominant summer of junior golf.

   Not that Sheehan, who had claimed the District One Class AAA crown the previous fall as a senior at Central Bucks East, had a bad summer. He would win the title in the Jock MacKenzie, another of GAP’s major championships for junior players, at Sandy Run Golf Club and earned the Harry Hammond Award, a stroke-play crown for juniors that combines scores from qualifying for match play for the Junior Boys, the Christman Cup and the Jock MacKenzie.

   The next three GAP Junior Boys crowns went to Norristown’s Josh Ryan, the last of which happened last summer at Bala Golf Club. Ryan, who followed Sheehan as the District One Class AAA individual champion in 2019, defeated Morgan Lofland, a two-time Central League champion at Conestoga, in the GAP Junior Boys final in 2021 at Overbrook Golf Club.

   That foursome of recent stars on the GAP junior circuit and local scholastic scene were all in action in the VyStar Credit Union Gators Invitational, which wrapped up Sunday at host Florida’s Mark Bostick Golf Course in Gainesville, Fla.

   Barbin and Ryan were in the lineup for Liberty, No. 37 in the latest Golfstat rankings, helping the Flames, an ASUN power, finish in fourth place in the team standings with a 5-over-par 846 total over the 6,701-yard, par-70 Mark Bostick layout.

   Sheehan shared medalist honors for Penn State, ranked 93^rd, while Lofland struggled a little as the Nittany Lions, out of the Big Ten, finished in a tie for seventh place with No. 59 Stetson, each landing on 27-over 867.

   Barbin began his college career at Maryland, but then followed older brother Zach, winner of two of GAP’s major championships, the BMW Philadelphia Amateur and the Patterson Cup in the coronavirus pandemic summer of 2020, to Liberty. Zach and Austin both contributed to Liberty’s run to the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. last spring.

   Austin Barbin opened with a 4-under 66 in the first round of a scheduled double round Saturday in the Gators Invitational. The weather started to turn considerably cooler and windier with lightning forcing the suspension of the second round.

   Barbin completed a 1-over 71 in the second round before closing with a 75 that left him among the group tied for 11^th place with a 2-over 212 total.

   Ryan took a gap year before joining the Liberty program last fall and by the end of the fall portion of the wraparound 2022-2023 season, he had earned a spot in the starting lineup for the Flames.

   Ryan got the spring portion of the season off to a nice start with a 3-under 67 in Saturday’s opening round. He struggled in the second round with a 76 before closing with a 73 that left him in the group tied for 24^th place with a 6-over 216 total.

   Liberty was right there with eventual champion Florida, the Southeastern Conference power that is No. 8 in the Golfstat rankings, with an opening round of 9-under 271. The Flames struggled a little in the last two rounds, posting a 3-over 283 in the second round before finishing up with an 11-over 291. Their 845 total was 29 shots behind Florida.

   The Gators are so deep that their B team finished second with an even-par 840 total.

   Sheehan, a senior who represented Penn State as an individual in the NCAA’s Columbus Regional last spring, also got off to a good start at the Mark Bostick Golf Course with a solid 2-under 68. He added a 2-over 72 in the second round before closing with a 73 that left him in the group tied for 14^th place with a 3-over 213 total.

   Lofland, a sophomore, struggled a little in the Gators Invitational. After opening with a 5-over 75, he added a 79 in the suspended second round and ended up with an 82 in the chilly and windy conditions of Sunday’s final round as he finished alone in 74^th place with a 236 total.

   Penn State opened with a solid 2-under 278 in Saturday morning’s first round, but the Nittany Lions struggled in the deteriorating weather conditions, adding a 293 in the second before finishing up with a 296.

   Of course, nobody was going to really challenge host Florida, which won its home tournament for the 29th time with a 14-under 826 total. The Gators matched Liberty’s solid opening round with a 9-under 271 and held it together with a solid 4-under 276 in a second round that started Saturday afternoon and finished up Sunday.

   A final round of 1-under 279 enabled the Gators to finish at 14-under.

   Florida was led by its star senior Ricky Castillo, the Yorba Linda, Calif. native who is No. 27 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and who won the individual crown in a playoff with Georgia Southern’s Mason Williams, a fifth-year player from Bridgeport, W.Va. who is No. 92 in the WAGR.

   Castillo went 4-0 for the United States in a hard-fought 14-12 victory over Great Britain & Ireland in a Walker Cup Match staged in the middle of the college postseason at the iconic Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla. in May of 2021.

   It was Castillo’s second win in the Gators Invitational – he made it bookends at Mark Bostick having captured the title as a freshman in 2020 – and his third individual college victory overall.

   Castillo matched the 7-under 63 he shot when he won the event in 2020 in the second round after opening with a 3-under 67 and took a one-shot lead over Williams into the final round.

   Castillo closed with a 1-under 69 and Williams registered a 2-under 68 to catch Castillo and force the playoff. Castillo’s par on the first hole of the playoff gave him the title, the 18^th time a Florida player has won the individual crown in the Gators Invitational.

   Florida’s B team was the closest pursuer for the Gators’ first five. After matching par with a 280 in the opening round, the second-stringers put together the best team round of the weekend with an 11-under 269 that drew it within two shots of Florida’s first five heading into the final round.

   Florida’s B team closed with an 11-over 291 to finish 14 shots behind Florida’s first five in second place with an even-par 840 total.

   It is that kind of depth that makes the Gators a player on the national scene every spring. Florida fell to eventual national semifinalist and current No. 1 team in the country Vanderbilt in the SEC title match last spring and then advanced to the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk out of the Palm Beach Regional.

   Florida made it to the final day of qualifying for match play at Grayhawk, but came up a little short of earning a spot among the eight teams in the match-play bracket.

   Behind individual runnerup Williams, No. 25 Georgia Southern finished four shots behind Florida’s B team in third place with a 4-over 844 total.

   The Eagles lost to Little Rock in the Sun Belt Conference match-play final last spring and then earned a ticket to Grayhawk with a fifth-place finish as an eight seed at the New Haven Regional.

   Georgia Southern only trailed Florida’s first five by six shots going into the final round of the Gators Invitational after adding a 4-under 276 in the second round to its opening-round 277. The Eagles closed with an 11-over 291 to end up at 4-over.

   Behind Liberty in fourth place were a couple of solid Florida entries, No. 35 North Florida, one of Liberty’s ASUN rivals, and American Athletic Conference power South Florida, ranked 88^th, in fifth and sixth, respectively.

    The always underrated ASUN champion Ospreys, coming off a runnerup finish to Vanderbilt as the host team in The Hayt last weekend, opened with a 2-over 282 and added a 5-under 275 in the second round before struggling in the final round with a 296 that left them eight shots behind Liberty with a 13-over 853 total.

   South Florida finished a shot behind North Florida with a 14-over 854 total as the Bulls added a 1-under 279 in the second round to their opening-round 285 before closing with a 290.

   North Florida and South Florida both made it to the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk last spring, the Ospreys advancing out of the New Haven Regional as a seven seed and the Bulls, the runnerup to SMU in the American, advancing out of the Palm Beach Regional as a seven seed.

   Stetson, another ASUN entry, shared seventh place with Penn State in the 14-team field, both teams finishing 13 shots behind South Florida at 27-over. The Hatters added a 2-over 282 in the second round to their opening-round 285, but struggled to a 300 in Sunday’s final round.

   Backing up Castillo for Florida’s top team was Yuxin Lin, a senior from China who finished alone in fourth place with a 4-under 206 total. After opening with a 2-under 68, Lin posted back-to-back 1-under 69s in the final two rounds.

   Fred Biondi, a senior from Brazil and No. 16 in the WAGR, finished in a tie for sixth place in the individual standings with a 1-under 209 total. Biondi, the individual champion in Gators Invitational a year ago, opened defense of his title with a sparkling 5-under 65. He backed off with a 73 in the second round before finishing up with a 1-over 71.

   John DuBois, a senior from Windermere, Fla., finished alone in 23^rd place with a 5-over 215 total as he added a 3-over 73 in the second round to his opening-round 72 before matching par in the final round with a 70.

   Rounding out Florida’s first five was Matthew Kress, a redshirt freshman from Saratoga, Calif. who finished among the group tied for 24^th place with a 7-over 217 total. Kress carded back-to-back 1-over 71s in the first two rounds before closing with a 75.

   Tyler Wilkes, a junior from Tampa, Fla., led the way for Florida’s B team, finishing in third place in the individual standings with a 6-under 204 total that was five shots out of the playoff between Castillo and Williams for the title.

   Wilkes, though, made his case for a spot in Florida’s starting lineup as he contributed a sparkling 4-under 66 to the Florida B team’s second-round surge after he had matched par in the opening round with a 70. Wilkes finished up with a 2-under 68.

   North Florida’s Nick Gabrelcik, a junior from Trinity, Fla. and No. 14 in the WAGR, finished a shot behind Florida’s Lin in fifth place with a 3-under 207 total. Gabrelcik, coming off a runnerup finish in The Hayt at Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., only trailed Castillo by three shots going into the final round after adding a 5-under 65 in the second round to his opening-round 68.

   But Gabrelcik struggled a little in the final round with a 4-over 74.

   Gabrelcik’s fellow Osprey, Robbie Higgins, a junior from Bradenton, Fla., joined Florida’s Biondi in a tie for sixth place at 1-under 209, two shots behind Gabrelcik.

   Higgins opened with a solid 3-under 67, matched par in the second round with a 70 and finished up with a 2-over 72.

   South Florida’s Sam Nicholson, a junior from Atlantic Beach, Fla., finished alone in eighth place, ending up at even-par 280 as he added a 1-under 69 in the second round to his opening-round 68 before closing with a 3-over 73.

   Nicholson’s South Florida teammate, Jake Peacock, a graduate student from Milton, Ga., and another member of Florida’s B team, Giovanni Manzoni, a fifth-year player from Italy, rounded out the top 10 in the individual standings as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each landing on 1-over 211.

   After opening with a 1-over 71, Peacock twice matched par with a pair of 70s in the final two rounds. Manzoni matched those splits, adding back-to-back even-par 70s in the final two rounds to his opening-round 71.

   Jake Griffin, a sophomore from Kensington, Md., shared medalist honors for Penn State with Sheehan for the weekend as he ended up in the group tied for 14^th place with a 3-over 213 total.

   Looks like Griffin was tied for the lead with Florida’s Biondi following the opening round as Griffin got off to a fast start with a sparkling 5-under 65. Griffin backed off with a 76 in the second round before finishing up with a 2-over 72.

   Backing up the top two for the Nittany Lions was James Allen, a junior from Scarsdale, N.Y. who finished among the group tied for 34^th place with a an 8-over 218 total. Allen carded a pair of 1-over 71s in the double round that wasn’t completed until Sunday morning and then finished up with a 6-over 76.

   Senior Jimmy Meyers, a member of Pittsburgh Central Catholic’s 2018 PIAA Class AAA championship team, finished in a tie for 54^th place for Penn State with a 223 total. Meyers registered a pair of 4-over 74s in the double round that started Saturday and finished up Sunday and then closed with a 75.

Lofland rounded out the Penn State lineup with his finish in 74^th place with a 236 total.