Day One Results
Day Two Results

May 16, 2009

UCF Claims Southeast Regional Crown

Courtesy of UCF Athletics

SORRENTO, Fla. - Playing close to home at the RedTail Golf Club, the UCF men's golf team claimed the title at the NCAA Southeast Regional Saturday, earning a bid to the NCAA Championship later this month. The Knights finished the three-round event at 34-under 818, 11 shots ahead of top-ranked Georgia, Arizona and South Carolina, who tied for second.

UCF redshirt freshman Brad Schneider (Valrico, Fla.) finished second individually at 13-under 200. He was followed in third by freshman Blayne Barber (Lake City, Fla.) at 202 (-11). On Saturday, Barber recorded a school and course record 9-under 62. Schneider carded a 63 in the final round.

The Knights led the tournament from start to finish. The regional title was the first in program history for UCF.

The top five teams at the regional advanced to the NCAA Championship, which will be held in Toledo, Ohio, May 26-30. UCF will be making its fourth trip to the championship and first since 1992.

"The guys played well. They have played well all year," UCF head coach Nick Clinard said. "They came out with the right mindset and attitude. The guys really hung in there. They have won before. I am very proud of our guys. They have worked so hard. All of the hard work has really paid off for them."

The Knights were making their third-consecutive regional appearance.

The three second-place teams finished the event at 829 (-23). Iowa also earned a trip to Toledo, concluding the tournament in fifth at 837 (-15).

Tarquin McManus of Arizona claimed individual honors at 15-under 198.

UCF senior David Johnson (Palm Bay, Fla.) tied for 14th at 208 (-5). Junior Simon Ward (County Monaghan, Ireland) tied for 27th (211, -2) and fellow junior Devin Spies (Sarasota, Fla.) tied for 38th at 213 (E).

The victory was the fourth of the 2008-09 campaign for the Knights. UCF has now won three events during the spring.

UCF hosted the regional along with the Central Florida Sports Commission. In April, the Knights claimed the Conference USA Championship title at RedTail, earning the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals. Ward took medalist honors at the tournament, followed by Barber.

For the latest news on the Knights, log on to UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.

Horschel Leads Gators To Southwest Regional Championship
Courtesy of Florida

Senior Billy Horschel (Grant, Fla.) made five birdies on his way to a final round 68 (-3) to lead the University of Florida men’s golf team to a win in the NCAA Southwest Regional at the University of Texas Golf Club in Austin. The Gators came from behind on Saturday and finished with score of 874 (+22) for the tournament, beating Texas Tech by two strokes.

“It was a long day today and this win was a long time coming,” said head coach Buddy Alexander. “This was our first win outside of our home tournaments since the 2006 Fall Preview. This is a pretty big win for these kids.”

Bad weather conditions caused Florida to have its worst round of the tournament on Saturday, shooting 10-over par 294, but they managed to move up the leader board from third place to win the event and advance to the NCAA Championship, to be held May 27-30 at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. Texas Tech, Texas, Stanford and Michigan were the other four teams to advance from the Southwest Regional.

This is the fourth time that Florida has won their NCAA Regional, the last time coming in 2006 when they won the NCAA West Regional. UF has now qualified for the NCAA Championship 21 times in Coach Alexander’s 22 years in Gainesville. It is the ninth year in a row that the Gators have advanced to the Championship.

Horschel, the 2009 SEC Golfer of the Year, made a birdie on his first hole and never looked back. He got to four-under par for the day with back-to-back birdies on the 13th and 14th holes, but a bogey on 18 put him at three-under 68 for the day. He finished in second place at one-over par 214 for the three-day tournament. Horschel has an amazing eight top-10 finishes in 10 tournament appearances this season.

“Billy carried us today, which is what you expect from an All-American,” said Coach Alexander. “Tyson told me yesterday that he liked our chances because we had a mad Billy Horschel on our side after he shot 74 on Friday. That pretty much won us the tournament today.”

Junior Tyson Alexander (Gainesville, Fla.) was solid on the final day, shooting three-over 74. He totaled 217 (+4) for the tournament and tied for seventh, marking his third top-10 finish of the season.

Senior Toby Ragland (Jacksonville, Fla.) continued his consistent scoring, shooting 75 in the third round after a pair of 74’s on Thursday and Friday. He had a 54-hole total of 223 (+10), putting him in a tie for 23rd. Fellow senior Will Strickler (Charlottesville, Va.) had his worst round of the tournament, carding a six over 77. He also finished in a tie for 23rd at 10-over 223.

Junior Tim McKenney (Scottsdale, Ariz.) struggled to a seven-over par 78 in the third round, finishing in a tie for 31st at 225 (+12) for the tournament.

“It was an absolute mud bath out there,” said Coach Alexander. Play was suspended for two and a half hours during the middle of the round on Saturday. “There was a lot of wind for a while, but then it died down.

“I never felt too uncomfortable though, and we kind of took control on the back nine. We made some mistakes down the stretch, but we held on for the win.”

Texas’ Lance Lopez won the individual medal, finishing at four-under par 209. Lamar’s Hugues Joannes qualified as an individual for the NCAA Championship after tying for fourth place at three-over par 216.

The Gators will return home and have a week off before traveling to Toledo for the NCAA Championship. The four-day tournament will begin on Wednesday, May 27 and conclude Saturday, May 30.

Southern California Rallies To Earn NCAA Berth; Arizona State Goes Wire-To-Wire To Take West
Courtesy of Southern California

Playing without injured All-American Jamie Lovemark - and the safety net of a fifth player -- the No. 3 USC men's golf team turned a potential disastrous situation into a rallying cry and managed to secure a berth into the NCAA Championship finals by taking fifth on the final day of the NCAA West Regional on Saturday (May 16) at the Lake Merced G.C. in Daly City, Calif.

A combined 81 teams played concurrently at six NCAA regions and only the top five out of each field will advance to the NCAA Championships final, May 26-30, at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.

USC finished a combined 11-under 853 (285-284-284), one stroke ahead of sixth-place New Mexico (854-280-292-282) and four ahead of San Diego State (857-286-287-284). The Trojans, who started the day in fifth, fell behind both teams early but managed to rally on the back 9, where they were a combined 5-under.

Arizona State ran away with the regional title at 36-under 828 (279-275-274), nine shots better than second-place Oregon's 27-under 837 (282-278-277). Texas A&M was third at 24-under 840 (281-286-273) while University of San Diego was fourth at 15-under 849 (288-278-283).

The Trojans, without Lovemark Saturday because of a muscle tear in his rib section (which affected his play Thursday and Friday), got big days from different team members each round. The first round saw sophomore Matt Giles go 7-under and senior Tom Glissmeyer was 5-under Friday. On Saturday, freshman Steve Lim turned in a season-best 6-under while sophomore Tim Sluiter went 3-under.

Third-year coach Chris Zambri had nothing but praise for the way the Trojans rallied Saturday to qualify for the team's third straight NCAA final.

"I'm proud of these guys," Zambri said. "It was unbelievable what they did today. Especially Steve Lim. He was off the charts. A 66. It was the round of the year for us. Not even close.

"Tim did really well and Matt held on for us. Tom had a tough day, but he kept it together and kept his head in it. Every stroke mattered and I'm just really proud of the guys. It gives us a chance (at the NCAA finals)."

Lim was 1-over after five holes before catching fire, going 7-under over the final 13 holes. He birdied 6, 8 and 9 and again on 13 before knocking in an eagle on 15. After a bogey on 16, he finished with two more birdies. Lim vaulted to 17th with the strong finish at 4-under 212 (72-74-66), his final round his third round in the 60s this year.

Sluiter tied for 31st at even 216 (77-70-69). After an even front 9 and a bogey on 10, he birdied four out of his remaining eight holes, including 16 and 17, to finish the round 3-under.

Giles tied for seventh at 7-under 209 (65-72-72), nailing down his seventh top 7 finish on the year. He was par on both the front and back 9, but birdies on 14 and 16 helped sustain USC's rally down the stretch.

Glissmeyer tied for 39th at 1-over 217 (72-68-77). The senior started out about as rough as he could imagine, 6-over after four holes, but he showed his grit by rallying to 1-under the rest of the way.

UCLA Storms Ahead To Take Central Regional Championship
Courtesy of UCLA

The 19th-ranked UCLA men's golf team surprised the field and won the NCAA Central Regional Championship Saturday at The Olde Stone Golf Club in Bowling Green, KY.

With the victory, the defending national champions advanced to their seventh consecutive NCAA Championship, a school record.

On Friday, play was suspended due to inclement weather, and the Bruins and 13 other teams were forced to complete the second round early Saturday morning. UCLA trailed fourth-ranked Washington by 10 strokes at the end of play on Friday, but posted a team score of 285 (-3) to cut the gap to seven strokes entering the final round. In round three, the Bruins carded a score of 286 (-2) while the Huskies ballooned to 300 (+12) and lost their lead.

Over the last two rounds, UCLA not only posted the best scores in the field, they played final 36 holes in five-under par.

The victory was UCLA's first of the season and its third regional championship in the last seven years.

The other qualifiers in the field were Georgia Tech and Ohio State, which tied for third at 880 (+16) and 42nd-ranked Duke at 881 (+17).

Overall, the Pac-10 qualified seven of the nine teams it sent to regional competition, including Arizona State, which won the West Regional title, Oregon (2nd, West) and USC (5th, West), Arizona (T2, Southeast) and Stanford (4th, Southwest).

Individually for the Bruins, senior Erik Flores continued his hot play, grabbing sixth place and jumping 14 spots up the leader-board with a final round score of 69 (-3). He finished at one-under par 215, his fourth straight under par result.

Sophomore Philip Francis entered the third round in second place, but finished in a tie for third after a final round 74 (+2). His second round score of 69 (-3) had put him three strokes off the lead after 36 holes.

Freshman Gregor Main posted a second-round 70 (-2) and was tied for fourth place at 143 (-1) entering the final round. After posting a 74 (+2), he fell into a tie for 11th at 217 (+1).

Freshman Alex Shi Yup Kim improved 20 spots on the leader-board with a cool, final round 70 (-2) and tied for 20th overall at 221 (+5).

Sophomore Connor Driscoll posted a score of 75 (+3) in the final round and tied for 34th at 225 (+9), an improvement of two spots.

Oklahoma State Secures 63rd Consecutive NCAA Berth With South Central Region Title
Courtesy of Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State's men's golf team wrapped up its 63rd consecutive NCAA Championship berth on Saturday after rolling to the team title at the NCAA South Central Regional at Karsten Creek Golf Club.

The Cowboys entered the final round with a 13-shot lead and extended their margin to 22 after posting an 8-over 296 for a 54-hole total of 881, 17-over par. OSU excelled on its home course, finishing as the only team with sub-300 scores all three days. Overall, the Cowboys posted three of the eight rounds under 300 in the tournament.

The victory was OSU's third consecutive and fifth overall this season. The victory also marked the first time in five tries the Cowboys have won on their home course.

Arkansas moved up one spot into second and finished with a 903 total, while Tennessee-Chattanooga finished third at 907. TCU and Northwestern finished tied for fourth place at 914 to round out the group of teams ad vancing to the NCAA Championship.

Sophomore Kevin Tway became the fifth different Cowboy to win a tournament this season, firing a 2-under 70 during his final round to finish at even-par 216. The Edmond, Okla., native bested freshman teammate Peter Uihlein by one stroke to earn his second career victory and first since last year's NCAA Central Regional.

Tway was solid all day long, starting his round with seven consecutive pars before producing a birdie-birdie finish on his front nine. He followed with four pars on his inward nine before posting his lone bogey of the day at the 14th. However, Tway gained the stroke back with a birdie at the difficult 17th to record the low round of the day.

Uihlein narrowly missed out on his second career victory after carding a closing 75. The Bradenton, Fla., native came to the par-five 18th needing a birdie to match Tway's total and just missed his birdie putt and finished with a 217 total.

Sophomore Rickie Fowler carded a 74 during his final round and finished at 224 and tied for 12th place, while freshman Morgan Hoffmann posted a 77 and finished tied for 13th place at 226.

Senior Trent Leon also carded a 77 during his final round at the par-72, 7,407-yard layout to finish at 228 and tied for 25th place.

Baylor's Cody Paladino beat LSU's John Peterson on the second playoff hole to earn the regional's individual spot in the NCAA Championship.

The championship finals will be held at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio May 26-30.

Alabama Overtakes Tennessee To Capture First Northeast Regional Title
Courtesy of Alabama

GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP, N.J. – The No. 11 University of Alabama men’s golf team captured the school’s first regional championship on Saturday with a win at the 2009 NCAA Northeast Regional with a 2-over-par 286 in the final round on the par-71, 7,022-yard Galloway National Golf Club.

“It feels great to get this victory and go into the NCAA Championships playing well,” Alabama head coach Jay Seawell said following Saturday’s final round. “We talked last night about having the mindset to play well and never give in, and I thought they took that to the course with them today. I just don’t think they were going to let anyone beat them.”

Redshirt freshman Hunter Hamrick completed the sweep for the Crimson Tide by claiming medalist honors with a 1-under-par total of 212. The Montgomery, Ala. native equaled the course record on Saturday with a 4-under-par 67 that included birdies on the 16th and 17th holes to claim the one-stroke victory.

Hamrick started his round with three consecutive birdies and fired a 2-under-par 33 on the front nine. He then birdied the 11th hole and bogeyed the 14th. It was his first career tournament championship and Alabama’s second medalist of the spring. Bud Cauley shared medalist honors at the United States Collegiate Championship in early April.

“Hunter (Hamrick) played incredible,” Seawell said. “The kid from Tennessee (David Holmes) birdied the 16th hole and Hunter came right back and put a 3-wood within 20 feet and two putted for birdie. Then he put a 3-wood within three feet on the 249-yard par-3 to take the lead, and it was his tournament from there. He is playing with a lot of confidence right now.”

The Crimson Tide completed the 54-hole event with a 22-over-par score of 874, overcoming a five-stroke deficit to Tennessee entering the final round. The Volunteers finished second with an 11-over-par 295 on Saturday, four strokes back of Alabama at 26-over 878. Illinois finished third at 35-over 887 with Virginia fourth at 37-over 889 with Wake Forest claiming the NCAA Championship’s final qualifying spot at 38-over-par 890.

The top five teams and the top individual not on an advancing team will qualify from each regional site for the NCAA Division I Men’s Championship at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. The NCAA Championships run May 26-30, 2009.

Cauley finished tied for third with an even-par 71 on Saturday. The true freshman from Jacksonville, Fla., rallied over the final 18 holes for his third straight top-five finish.

He opened the tournament with an 8-over-par 79 in Thursday’s first round, but responded by tying the course record with a 67 on Friday. Cauley began his third round with 10 consecutive pars before birdies on the 11th and 16th holes got him to 2-under but a double-bogey on the 18th left him at 4-over-par 217 for the tournament.

Redshirt freshman Spencer Cole turned in his lowest score of the regional with a 1-over-par 72 in the final round. He finished at 8-over 221 and in a tie for 11th place for the best finish of his young career.

Senior Matt Hughes finished tied for 19th for his top finish of the season at 11-over-par 224. Hughes carded a 5-over 76 in Saturday’s final round. Fellow senior Matthew Swan was the Tide’s No. 5 in the final round with an 8-over 79, finishing tied for 54th at 234.

Alabama Head Coach Jay Seawell Quotes from the NCAA Northeast Regional:
On placing first as a team, and qualifying for the national tournament:
"I'm very proud of my team; to win on such a great golf course makes it even more special. And it gives us a chance to play for a national championship which is every team's goal. I do want to thank Columbia University, and also Galloway National for being such great hosts. It was a great golf course, a great test and well run."

On freshman Hunter Hamrick, who took first place individually:
"I'm very proud of Hunter. We had two guys shoot the course record this week, and they're both true freshmen, which is great. I think it will give him great confidence for the future, and hopefully the next week."

On looking forward to the national tournament:
"I think we're starting to get the confidence, and the look of a team that can do something special next week. This week, and last two weeks of our conference play, we're starting to put together rounds and the confidence that it takes to win a national championship."

Alabama Scores
1. Hunter Hamrick, 74-71-67/212 (-1)
t3. Bud Cauley, 79-67-71/217 (+4)
t11. Spencer Cole, 74-75-72/221 (+10)
t19. Matt Hughes, 76-72-76/224 (+11)
t54. Matthew Swan, 80-75-79 (+21)