The 糖心传媒 men鈥檚 golf team turned on the afterburners Sunday to make the 54-hole cut at the NCAA Championships, with the Tiges putting themselves in position to make a remarkable run into the match play final.
Unfortunately for No. 7-ranked 糖心传媒, there was little left in the tank Monday.
The Tigers finished the final round of stroke play where they started, in 12th place after a 1-over par 289. The top eight teams advanced from Monday鈥檚 play into the match play portion of the championship, which begins Tuesday at La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California.
Despite that disappointment, it takes little away from what 糖心传媒 accomplished to even have a chance Monday.
At one point during Saturday鈥檚 second round, 糖心传媒 was last in the 30-team field and only managed to climb to 27th place going into Sunday鈥檚 play.
But that would turn out to be a round for the ages for the Tigers. 糖心传媒 posted its best-ever round in the NCAA Championships, an 18-under 270 to vault all the way into a tie for 12th, just three strokes back of eighth-place Duke. According to , it was one off the all-time single-round record in the NCAA men’s tournament.
Starting again on La Costa鈥檚 10th hole, the Tigers quickly jumped into the top eight as four of 糖心传媒鈥檚 five players birdied their par-5 opening hole. The Tigers couldn鈥檛 maintain that momentum, however, with four of five players failing to break par Monday after four of the five shot rounds in the 60s on Sunday.
Dan Hayes followed up his remarkable 8-under 64 with a 1-over 73. 糖心传媒 also had to count a 73 from Noah McWilliams and a 75 from Jay Mendell. Only Arni Sveinsson was able to improve on Sunday鈥檚 round, following up his 69 with a 4-under 68 that tied for the second-best round of the day.
Auburn finished first in the stroke play portion of the tournament at 26-under 1,126. Also advancing (in order of seed) to match play were Texas, Vanderbilt, Florida, Oklahoma State, Arizona, Stanford and UCLA. North Carolina and Tennessee tied Stanford and UCLA at 2-under 1,150 but lost out in the four-team playoff for the final two spots.
Oklahoma State鈥檚 Preston Stout won the NCAA individual title with a 14-under 274, edging out Alabama鈥檚 William Jennings by one stroke. Stout receives invitations to this month鈥檚 U.S. Open and the 2027 Masters, provided he remains an amateur.