NCAA regionals wrap: 11th-seeded Chattanooga advances; Auburn survives

Cinderella has arrived a day early.

The 11th-seeded Chattanooga Mocs placed third and were among the five NCAA Championship qualifiers out of the NCAA Bryan Regional, which wrapped on Tuesday, a day earlier than originally scheduled because of impending weather.

The 30-team NCAA Championship will begin a week from Friday at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California.

The remaining five regionals finished Wednesday. Here’s a look at the results and how each regional was decided (*advanced in playoff):

Athens Regional

University of Georgia GC, Athens, Georgia, Par 71

Advancing teams: 1. Vanderbilt (-28), 2. Louisville (-26), 3. Auburn (-22), 4. BYU (-20), 5. Georgia (-19)
Eliminated: 6. Charleston (-18), 7. Southern Miss (-10), 8. Northwestern (-9), 8. Harvard (-9), 10. Rice (-8), 11. Illinois (-7), 11. Kansas (-7), 13. Howard (+33)
Individual champions: Will Hartman, Vanderbilt; Malan Potgieter, Louisiana (-14)
Advancing individual: Potgieter

The story: Auburn, the top-ranked team in the country and No. 1 overall seed, was on the ropes, sitting in sixth place as it began to make the turn during Wednesday’s final round.

That’s when the Tigers flipped the switch, looking like the team that had won four times this season. While a less-than-100% Jackson Koivun polished off a 4-under 67 with a two-birdie, bogey-free closing nine, Auburn’s other four counters combined to shoot 7 under on the back side with just one bogey. As a result, the Tigers climbed to third and finished at 22 under, four ahead of sixth-place Charleston, which cooled after a blazing start to its final round, playing its final nine, the front side, in 1 under.

“We didn’t have our best stuff all week,” Auburn head coach Nick Clinard said. “We were just sluggish out of the gates every day, but these guys showed a lot of heart, the back nine was kind to us and they turned it on when they had to.”

For Auburn, it snapped its streak of three straight NCAA regional titles, but the Tigers will still advance to nationals for the 13th time in its last 14 tries. Koivun finished T-11 after starting the week with a stomach illness. He went 3 over on his first nine holes Monday before playing his remaining 45 holes in 9 under. Josiah Gilbert led Auburn with a T-4.

Clinard, who usually walks every hole with Koivun, admits he was getting a little nervous midway through Wednesday’s round, but he knew his Tigers favored the back nine, which they scored 25 under on for the week compared to 3 over for the front. That trend played true for a third straight day, highlighted by seven birdies on the two closing par-5s and five pars on the tough, par-3 13th.

“When the lights were on and their backs were against the wall on that back nine, they were able to perform, and hopefully that gives them a lot of belief in each other,” Clinard said. “I’m just super proud to be these guys’ coach.”

Chip shots: Vanderbilt entered regionals on a downward trend, finishing 14th out of 16 teams at the SEC Championship and dropping from third to No. 13 in the national rankings this spring. But the Commodores found the form they showed in the fall (three wins, just three head-to-head losses) and advanced to a 12th straight NCAA Championship. … Sixth-seeded Louisville’s runner-up was its best regional finish in program history as the Cardinals qualify for nationals for the first time since 2021. … For the first time since October, someone other than Kihei Akina led BYU (Parker Bunn, T-10; Akina was T-14). The Cougars have now advanced through regionals four times in the past five season, and they will play their third round of nationals a week from Thursday, a day before the first round begins, because of religious reasons. … Georgia kept outgoing head coach Chris Haack’s career alive, hanging on despite two bogeys on the Bulldogs’ final hole, the par-4 ninth. Make that six of the past seven NCAA Championships played for the Bulldogs. … Charleston, the 9 seed, was trying to get through regionals for the first time since 2022 but just the third time ever. … Illinois posted their worst regional finish since 2004 (T-18), tying for 11th after a 2-over final round, four shots worse than the next team score on Wednesday.

Bermuda Run Regional

Bermuda Run CC, Bermuda Run, North Carolina, Par 71

Advancing teams: 1. Virginia (-36), 2. Pepperdine (-36), 3. Ole Miss (-31), 4. USC (-27), 5. Mississippi State (-26)
Eliminated: 6. Houston (-18), 7. North Carolina State (-17), 8. Wake Forest (-12), 9. Georgia Tech (-4), 10. Kentucky (-2), 11. Richmond (+7), 12. Little Rock (+12), 13. Presbyterian (+21), 14. Navy (+24)
Individual champion: Ben James, Virginia (-19)
Advancing individual: T-5. Jacob Lang, Kentucky (-9)

The story: One look at the leaderboard on Tuesday night brought Mississippi State head coach Dusty Smith back to one year ago. His Bulldogs were 12 shots clear of sixth place through two rounds of the NCAA Bermuda Run Regional, the same advantage they had at last year’s NCAA Reno Regional when they ultimately shot their worst round of the tournament by 13 shots to go from T-3 to seven shots out of qualifying.

“The whole mission was to vindicate what we did last year,” Smith said. “To us, it didn’t matter what seed we were; we were on a mission to go get it done.”

Mission accomplished. With three returning starters – Garrett Endicott, Dain Ritchie and Ugo Malcor – from last year’s regional squad, the Bulldogs held on for a fifth-place finish, eight shots better than the first team out, Houston. Endicott led the way with a solo third while Ritchie was T-8, his fourth straight top-10 finish as he’s gone from ranked outside the top 700 in mid-March to potentially now inside the top 100. Ritchie’s trend has been mirrored by his team, which was ranked No. 71 after a ninth-place finish at Maridoe in late March. At the time, the Bulldogs were just five wins above .500, too.

“We were struggling there for a while and our backs were against the wall,” Smith said. “We had nine rounds left, so I told the guys, we’re going to take this one round at a time, and we need to play big in all these rounds.”

Mississippi State followed with a fifth against a strong Mason Rudolph field before sharing the title at its home event at Mossy Oak with Ole Miss. By the time the Bulldogs arrived at the SEC Championship, they had hit their stride and then recorded their best finish there under Smith, finishing sixth before losing in the quarterfinals. Still, they accomplished their first preseason goal. Their second was to get through regionals, where Mississippi State was the 7 seed.

“We knew we were a seventh seed, but we truly felt like we were way better than a seventh seed,” Smith said.

They just proved it.

Chip shots: James’ second NCAA regional win and second victory this season propelled the Cavaliers to their first outright or share region title in program history. … Same goes for Pepperdine, which had never won or shared a region title before today. … Ole Miss will now play back-to-back NCAA Championships for the first time since 1984-85. … USC will return to nationals for the first time since 2019; this was just its third regional appearance since then. … Houston was sixth for the second time in three years at regionals as the Cougars still haven’t advanced to nationals since 2016.

Marana Regional

The Gallery GC, Marana, Arizona, Par 72

Advancing teams: 1. Arizona (-49), 2. Oklahoma State (-35), 3. LSU (-30), T-4. Duke (-24), Arkansas State (-24)
Eliminated: 6. Alabama (-23), 7. Clemson (-21), 8. West Virginia (-5), 9. St. Mary’s (-3), 10. Tarleton State (+4), 11. San Diego State (+7), 12. Florida Gulf Coast (+11), 13. Iona (+18), 14. North Dakota State (+23)
Individual champion(s): Eric Lee, Oklahoma State; Zach Pollo, Arizona; Filip Jakubcik, Arizona; William Jennings, Alabama (-15)
Advancing individual: Jennings

X

Columbus Regional

Ohio State University GC (Scarlet), Columbus, Ohio, Par 71

Advancing teams: 1. Florida (E), 2. Stanford (+24), 3. Memphis (+25), 4. Arizona State (+30), 5. Florida State (+31)
Eliminated: 6. Utah (+37), 7. Long Beach State (+38), 8. California (+39), 9, Oregon (+41), 10. Illinois State (+43), 10. USF (+43), 12. South Carolina (+48), 13. Wright State (+58)
Individual champion: Luke Poulter, Florida (E)
Advancing individual: 5. Steen Zeman, Long Beach State (+2)

Corvallis Regional

Trysting Tree GC, Corvallis, Oregon, Par 72

Advancing teams: 1. Oklahoma (-34), 2. UCLA (-14), 3. Arkansas (-11), 4. Purdue (-10) 5. San Diego (-9)*
Eliminated: 6. Liberty (-9), 7. Oregon State (-6), 8. Texas Tech (-5), 9. Notre Dame (-1), 10. Xavier (+6), 11. Charlotte (+7), 12. Georgia Southern (+8), 13. Sacramento State (+14)
Individual champion: Michael Lugiano, Liberty (-12)
Advancing individual: Lugiano

Bryan Regional

Traditions Club, Bryan, Texas, Par 72

Advancing teams: 1. Texas (-45), 2. Texas A&M (-40), 3. Chattanooga (-23), 4. North Carolina (-19), 5. Tennessee (-18)
Eliminated: 6. TCU (-13), 7. Colorado (-11), 8. UNLV (-2), 9. UNCW (E), 10. Cincinnati (+8), 11. New Mexico (+11), 12. UTRGV (+14), 13. Miami (Ohio) (+18), 14. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (+73)
Individual champion: Luke Potter, Texas (-17)
Advancing individual: 10. Jorge Martin Sampedro, UTRGV (-8)

The story: Chattanooga didn’t finish better than eighth in a tournament until its second event of the spring. It didn’t crack the top five until winning the Racer Intercollegiate in early April. That win and the Mocs’ eight-shot win at the SoCon Championship were their only finishes better than sixth heading into regionals.

And yet, Chattanooga will play its second NCAA Championship in four seasons under head coach Blaine Woodruff.

The Mocs became just the sixth 11 seed since 2009 to advance through regionals thanks to a third-place finish at the NCAA Bryan Regional. Chattanooga was in sixth after 18 holes before shooting 21 under over 36 holes on Tuesday – this regional finished a day early because of impending weather – to end up 10 strokes clear of the first team out, TCU.

“Early on this season, I felt like we were really talented, probably the most talented group I’ve had yet, but it was just a young group,” Woodruff said. “And I kind of threw them into the fire early with our schedule, played some really tough events, and we got beat up a little bit. But I felt like if we learned from that and as long as the guys didn’t get discouraged that we’d be in good position to do something special in the spring.

“Now did I expect this? I don’t know. It’s hard to say. But here we are.”

Between their two wins, the Mocs finished seventh at the Western Intercollegiate at Pasatiempo, though they came away from that tournament, where they were tied for third with 18 holes to play, gaining a ton of self-belief.

“We’ve just been riding that confidence from there,” Woodruff added.

Like he’s done for much of the season, freshman Evan Rogers led the way with a solo-fourth finish while sophomore Ward Harris was T-17 and Camden Braidech, the only junior and only Moc with past regional experience in a lineup of mostly first and second years, was T-21.

A couple years ago, Woodruff had no clue who Rogers, who is from Duluth, Georgia, was when Woodruff’s former assistant, Nick Robinson, caught a glimpse of Rogers at the Junior Jones Cup. At the behest of Robinson, Woodruff traveled to watch Rogers play a week later and was impressed by the raw talent, even if Rogers’ lack of golf IQ led to some high variance in his scores. “I was like, I can’t let anybody find out about this guy,” Woodruff said. Rogers soon committed to Chattanooga and last summer shot up the junior rankings, placing third at both the Western Junior and North and South Junior. He’s now ranked No. 219 in WAGR.

Woodruff takes some pride in four of his five starters being non-transfers. He got emotional afterward thinking about this team’s growth these past couple years and was encouraged to find his guys at dinner Tuesday night already thinking about how they could beat Texas, which finished 22 shots ahead of them while playing the par-5s 29 shots better.

“Their minds had already shifted,” Woodruff said. “Yeah, they were excited they got through, but it was like, OK, how do we get better? How do we compete with Texas and those teams? So, I don’t think I have to do a whole lot. … We’re not going to La Costa just for a vacation. They’re ready to go.

“They believed this week, and now they believe even more, so who knows what they can do?”

Chip shots: Texas advanced to its 19th straight NCAA Championship, the longest active streak in the nation that would be four better than Oklahoma assuming the Sooners advance on Wednesday. The Longhorns have now won 11 regional titles. Texas shot 23 under in the second round, tied for the third-best 18-hole team score in relation to par in regional history. … Texas A&M is headed to its fifth straight nationals as the Aggies became the third straight fifth-seeded hosts to get through. … Despite its top player Niall Sheils Donegan battling injury and playing only the final 36 holes (5 over), North Carolina is headed back to the NCAA Championship after snapping a seven-year streak last spring. … Josh Hill shot 10 under over his last two rounds and Lance Simpson closed in 67 to lead Tennessee to a fifth-place showing and a third straight NCAA Championship appearance. … TCU was third after two rounds before shooting 2 over in the final round and dropping three spots to sixth. … New Mexico’s 11th-place finish equaled the worst finish by a 4 seed since the six-regional format began in 2009 (North Florida, 2015; Clemson, 2012).