GREENSBORO, N.C. – Liberty fought off a hard-charging Florida team to claim the wire-to-wire team win at the NCAA Greensboro Golf Regional at the Grandover Resort’s East Course on Saturday. Three players tied for medalist honors, with Campbell’s Vaita Guillaume winning a one-hole playoff to earn an NCAA Championship bid.
Liberty, Florida, Auburn, Lamar and Tulsa also advanced to the NCAA Championships in Pacific Palisades, Calif., on May 29-June 3, as the top five teams and the top individual not on one of those teams earned bids.
Guillaume (70-71-72), SMU’s Matt Schovee (67-70-75) and Liberty’s Robert Karlsson (70-69-74) each finished atop the leaderboard with scores of 3-under 213. With Karlsson already going to the NCAA Championship with Liberty’s win, Guillaume and Schovee headed to the 10th hole for a sudden-death playoff.
Schovee bogeyed the par-4 hole, while Guillaume sank a short par putt to clinch his trip to California. The playoff loss was especially cruel for Schovee, who held sole possession of the individual lead after of the first two rounds and seemed assured a trip to the NCAA Championship as SMU was in second as a team entering the final round.
The Mustangs, who were six strokes back of Liberty entering the final round, picked an awful time for their worst round of the tournament, however, shooting a 13-over 301 to fall out of contention and leave Schovee on the outside looking in.
The race for the team title was just as dramatic, as Liberty and Florida were neck-and-neck with the Gators in hot pursuit all day. The Flames pulled away late as all four players who counted toward the team score carded birdies on the par-5 18th. Florida’s Michael Furci closed his day in fine fashion with an eagle-3 on the hole, but it was not enough as Florida’s rally fell just short.
Liberty finished with a 4-over 868 (283-293-292) for the tournament, while Florida was three shots back at 871 (299-287-285). For the second straight day, the Gators had the best round, at 3-under, while Auburn turned in a 2-under 286 to finish third at 284 (296-292-286).
The tournament was hosted by UNCG and the Greensboro Sports Commission.
AGATE
Team scores
NCAA Greensboro Regional Greensboro, NC May 17 – May 19, 2012 Round 3 Scores
(2) Grandover Resort & Conference Center East Course-1 – Par 72, 7271 yards
(3) Grandover Resort & Conference Center East Course-10 – Par 72, 7271 yards
Fin. Team Scores Total Par 1 Liberty....................... 283 293 292(2) 868 +4 2 Florida....................... 299 287 285(2) 871 +7 3 Auburn........................ 296 292 286(2) 874 +10 4 Lamar......................... 295 293 289(2) 877 +13 5 Tulsa......................... 293 297 288(3) 878 +14 6 Duke.......................... 301 291 289(3) 881 +17 7 SMU........................... 288 294 301(2) 883 +19 8 UNLV.......................... 293 304 291(3) 888 +24 9 Indiana....................... 298 293 303(3) 894 +30 10 Texas Tech.................... 294 295 306(2) 895 +31 11 Charlotte..................... 303 304 300(3) 907 +43 12 Louisiana-Lafayette........... 295 305 316(3) 916 +52 T13 Mount St. Mary's.............. 311 317 300(3) 928 +64 T13 George Washington U........... 312 310 306(3) 928 +64
Individual scores
NCAA Greensboro Regional Greensboro, NC May 17 – May 19, 2012 Round 3 Scores
(2) Grandover Resort & Conference Center East Course-1 – Par 72, 7271 yards
(3) Grandover Resort & Conference Center East Course-10 – Par 72, 7271 yards
* Player is participating as an individual
Fin. Players Team Scores Total Par T1 Robert Karlsson................ Liberty....................... 70 69 74(2) 213 -3 T1 Matt Schovee................... SMU........................... 67 70 76(2) 213 -3 T1 Vaita Guillaume*............... Campbell...................... 70 71 72(3) 213 -3 4 Blayne Barber.................. Auburn........................ 73 68 73(2) 214 -2 T5 Dominic Bozzelli............... Auburn........................ 76 70 70(2) 216 E T5 JD Tomlinson................... Florida....................... 73 71 72(2) 216 E T7 Brinson Paolini................ Duke.......................... 73 73 71(3) 217 +1 T7 John Young Kim................. Tulsa......................... 69 75 73(3) 217 +1 T7 Luke Jerling................... Lamar......................... 75 71 71(2) 217 +1 T7 Blake Biddle................... UNLV.......................... 70 73 74(3) 217 +1 T7 TJ Vogel....................... Florida....................... 78 70 69(2) 217 +1 T7 Chase Marinell................. Liberty....................... 70 74 73(2) 217 +1 T13 MJ Daffue...................... Lamar......................... 70 73 76(2) 219 +3 T13 Niklas Lindstrom............... Liberty....................... 72 74 73(2) 219 +3 15 Tyler McCumber................. Florida....................... 74 72 74(2) 220 +4 T16 Colton Staggs.................. Tulsa......................... 79 73 69(3) 221 +5 T16 Kevin Hesbois.................. Lamar......................... 75 75 71(2) 221 +5 T16 Adam Sumrall................... Duke.......................... 73 71 77(3) 221 +5 T16 Niclas Carlsson................ Auburn........................ 74 76 71(2) 221 +5 T16 Eric Banks..................... Florida....................... 75 74 72(2) 221 +5 T16 Raoul Menard................... Charlotte..................... 74 73 74(3) 221 +5 T16 Max Buckley.................... SMU........................... 76 70 75(2) 221 +5 T23 Chris Worrell.................. Tulsa......................... 74 77 71(3) 222 +6 T23 Brant Peaper................... Indiana....................... 76 73 73(3) 222 +6 T23 Austin Cody.................... Duke.......................... 79 71 72(3) 222 +6 T23 Corey Ziedonis................. Indiana....................... 71 73 78(3) 222 +6 T23 Kevin Penner................... UNLV.......................... 75 76 71(3) 222 +6 T28 Spencer Anderson............... Duke.......................... 76 77 71(3) 224 +8 T28 Esteban Restrepo............... Texas Tech.................... 76 74 74(2) 224 +8 T28 Matt Mabrey.................... Tulsa......................... 73 74 77(3) 224 +8 T28 Chase Wright................... Indiana....................... 76 73 75(3) 224 +8 T28 Andrew Noto.................... Louisiana-Lafayette........... 74 75 75(3) 224 +8 T28 Carl Jonson.................... UNLV.......................... 73 77 74(3) 224 +8 T28 Devin O'Grady.................. Mount St. Mary's.............. 77 76 71(3) 224 +8 T35 Derek Ernst.................... UNLV.......................... 75 78 72(3) 225 +9 T35 Clement Sordet................. Texas Tech.................... 73 74 78(2) 225 +9 T35 Harry Higgs.................... SMU........................... 69 80 76(2) 225 +9 T35 Sam Ryder*..................... Stetson....................... 71 78 76(3) 225 +9 T39 Will McCurdy................... Auburn........................ 76 78 72(2) 226 +10 T39 Matias Dominguez............... Texas Tech.................... 77 73 76(2) 226 +10 T39 Xavier Feyaerts................ Lamar......................... 75 74 77(2) 226 +10 T39 Henry Todd..................... Texas Tech.................... 73 74 79(2) 226 +10 T39 Mathieu Fenasse................ Liberty....................... 71 78 77(2) 226 +10 T44 Mark Mumford................... Tulsa......................... 77 75 75(3) 227 +11 T44 Ian McConnell.................. Liberty....................... 79 76 72(2) 227 +11 T44 Brandt Garon................... Louisiana-Lafayette........... 71 76 80(3) 227 +11 T44 Chris Russo*................... CSU Northridge................ 79 74 74(3) 227 +11 T44 Andres Pumariega............... George Washington U........... 76 75 76(3) 227 +11 T49 Finley Ewing IV................ Texas Tech.................... 72 78 78(2) 228 +12 T49 Michael Furci.................. Florida....................... 77 79 72(2) 228 +12 T49 Sam Fidone..................... SMU........................... 79 74 75(2) 228 +12 T52 Tor-Erik Knudson............... Lamar......................... 79 79 71(2) 229 +13 T52 Olafur Loftsson................ Charlotte..................... 75 80 74(3) 229 +13 T52 Tyler Mitchell................. Charlotte..................... 77 76 76(3) 229 +13 T55 Julian Suri.................... Duke.......................... 79 76 75(3) 230 +14 T55 David Mills.................... Indiana....................... 75 75 80(3) 230 +14 T55 Michael Johnson................ Auburn........................ 73 79 78(2) 230 +14 T58 Philipp Fendt.................. Louisiana-Lafayette........... 74 77 80(3) 231 +15 T58 Paul Ferrier................... Charlotte..................... 80 75 76(3) 231 +15 T58 Marc Sambol.................... SMU........................... 76 80 75(2) 231 +15 T61 David Erdy..................... Indiana....................... 81 74 77(3) 232 +16 T61 Tonny Aizpun................... Mount St. Mary's.............. 77 81 74(3) 232 +16 T61 Leo Garcia*.................... Sacred Heart.................. 74 75 83(3) 232 +16 T64 Yohann Vora.................... Louisiana-Lafayette........... 76 77 81(3) 234 +18 T64 Martin Liu..................... George Washington U........... 80 75 79(3) 234 +18 T64 Ryan Triller................... Mount St. Mary's.............. 76 81 77(3) 234 +18 67 Rafael Guererro................ Charlotte..................... 77 80 78(3) 235 +19 68 Taylor Fuqua................... George Washington U........... 77 76 83(3) 236 +20 T69 Kurt Kitayama.................. UNLV.......................... 82 81 75(3) 238 +22 T69 Casey O'Toole*................. Samford....................... 81 79 78(3) 238 +22 T69 Dan Michalek................... Mount St. Mary's.............. 81 79 78(3) 238 +22 72 Jack Persons................... George Washington U........... 79 86 75(3) 240 +24 73 Chris Weninger................. Louisiana-Lafayette........... 76 80 86(3) 242 +26 74 Brandon Rukin.................. George Washington U........... 86 84 76(3) 246 +30 75 Kevin Ellison.................. Mount St. Mary's.............. 90 84 80(3) 254 +38