Three takeaways from the NCAA men's regionals

16 May 2024
by Sean Melia of AmateurGolf.com
see also: Calahan Keever Rankings
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Clemson won the Chapel Hill regional (Clemson Athletics Photo)

On Wednesday, the men’s NCAA Regional was full of drama. There was plenty of proof that college golf is deep, as low seeds made big jumps and top seeds crashed out.

Here are a few things that stuck out after the dust settled.

Clemson and Notre Dame break streaks

Clemson, a ten seed who had a perfect .500 record this season (76-76-1), was one of the last at-large bids to take home the Regional title—an incredible accomplishment. Their No. 5 player, Calahan Keever, led the Tigers with a T5 finish. It’s the Tigers' first regional title in 20 years.

Notre Dame’s streak is a lot longer. They haven’t played in the National Championship since 1966, that’s 58 years ago.

On Monday, teams played nearly 36 holes because of impending weather in Chapel Hill. That might have caused some of the shakeup in the regional in general, as Northwestern plummeted to 12th place, and Alabama missed out on qualifying, too.

Four No. 2 seeds, a No. 1 seed, and a Power 5 conference champ all miss qualifying

Pac-12 champion Arizona State is left wondering what could have been. Expectations for ASU have been high over the last few years because they were the host school at Grayhawk. With the championship at La Costa, some thought it would free up the Sun Devils. That was not the case. They didn’t get much from Wenyi Ding or Preston Summerhays and will have to wait another year. The week started inauspiciously with the news that Luke Potter was transferring to Texas after two years as a Sun Devil.

Alabama, Washington, Ole Miss, and Arkansas are all two seeds that did not qualify. This is a stunning result that leaves some of the best programs in the country on the outside looking in. Virginia and Arizona are the only two seeds that did qualify.

Northwestern was celebrating a Big 10 title less than two weeks ago. The shock victory for the Wildcats broke Illinois’ stranglehold on the conference. However, it was a tough week in Chapel Hill. Northwestern, the five-seed, finished in 12th place, 29 shots outside of the top five. The program has plenty to be proud of this year, but a trip to La Costa would have been the icing on the cake.

Thorbjornsen, Vilips, and Brown drag Stanford to Nationals

Michael Thorbjornsen, who is ranked No. 2 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings, shot a bogey-free 64 to flip the script at Stanford on Wednesday. For a while, it looked like the host team, who was the fifth seed in the region, wasn’t going to head down the California coast.

Instead, Thorbjornsen finished strong to pull Stanford into a T4 finish with SMU. Along with Thorbjornsen, Barclay Brown, who has struggled this year, particularly with driver, keep the big dog in the bag and managed his way around his home course for a 69.