Brandon Wu of Stanford and Cooper Dossey of Baylor led their teams to a co-championship
(Stanford and Baylor photos)
PALO ALTO, CA (May 17, 2017)--Led by Brandon Wu, the tournament host Stanford shot the low round of the day to catch Baylor and share the title at the NCAA Southwest Regional at
Stanford Golf Course.
Baylor started the day seven shots ahead of the Cardinal, after a red-hot second round that saw four Bears shoot in the 60s. But Wu led Stanford back, carding a five-under 65 to go along with a 68 by Franklin Huang, a 70 by first-round leader Maverick McNealy, and a 71 by Viraat Badhwar. The Cardinal finished with a six-under 274 and a 17-under 823 total.
Cooper Dossey continued his fine play for Baylor, shooting his third straight sub-70 round to finish solo second in the tournament at 68-66-67--201. No other Bears could match par,
however, and they finished one-over as a team with a 281 and tied at the top at 823.
Pepperdine played a solid even par final round and maintained its position in third place,
twelve behind the leaders. Sahith Theegala and Roy Cootes both shot 67 for the Waves.
Oklahoma's Brad Dalke entered the final round with a three shot lead over McNealy. Playing in the wave ahead, Dalke finished with a one-under 69 for a 12-under 198 total. McNealy started with an eagle but followed with a double at two, before four birdies got him to 12-under with two holes to go. But then he unraveled, making two more doubles on the last two holes to fall away into third place.
Dalke finished thirteen shots ahead of any of his teammates, but Grant Hirschman (68) and Blaine Hale (70) closed with solid rounds to put the Sooners in fourth and safely through to the NCAA Championship.
As with the other regional sites, the attention shifted to who would finish fifth and claim the final qualifying spot. The low five teams and the low individual not on a qualifying team qualify for the NCAA Championship, to be held at Rich Harvest Farms in Elk Grove, IL, May 26-31.
BYU, Georgia Tech, and North Florida all entered the day tied for the final spot. But it was North Carolina that came from behind and stole it from all of them, closing with a three-under 277 and clipping Georgia Tech by a single shot. Three Tar Heels shot in the 60s: Austin Hitt (67), Ben Griffin (69) and Jose Montano (69). North Florida also fell just short, two behind UNC, while BYU finished further seven shots back.
Collin Morikawa, coming in as the #2 ranked player in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Amateur Rankings led the race as the lone individual to advance going into the final round. But Morikawa struggled to a 74, allowing Travis Trace of North Florida to claim the spot with a 70 and a 208 total, two shots ahead of Morikawa.
The folowing teams and individual advanced to the NCAA Championship:
- Stanford, Baylor, Pepperdine, Oklahoma, North Carolina
- Travis Trace, North Florida
ABOUT THE
NCAA Division I Southwest Regional
54 hole men's NCAA Regional from which the
low
teams advance to the NCAA Championship.
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