HIGH POINT, N.C. – High Point University men’s golf sophomore Brendan MacDougall was selected to participate in the NCAA Regional hosted by N.C. State at the Lonnie Poole Golf Course in Raleigh, N.C.
“It’s exciting to see Brendan’s name pop up, but most of all I’m really proud of him,” head coach Brady Gregor said. “People don’t realize that he was close to an at-large bid and fell just outside of that going into conference. This is a huge step for the program because the NCAA Regional is something that once you experience it you want to be there every year and getting one guy there this year will hopefully get us going. We have other guys on our roster that are capable of playing with Brendan and do it in practice, so him achieving this shows them they’re capable as well.”
MacDougall, who won the Big South Championship medalist honor by six strokes last week, is the first Panther in the program’s Division I era to make the NCAA Regional round. The Calgary, Alberta native missed the conference record by one stroke shooting a 54-hole 13-under (203) at the Patriot at Grand Harbor course.
“I don’t think it’s quite hit me yet that I’m going to regionals,” MacDougall said. “I’m getting to play a course that I know, which is awesome. It’s still I’m soaking in, but by tomorrow morning I’ll be ready and focused on preparing for it. Hopefully this shows the guys that we can do it as a team next year.”
This milestone joins several other program marks set by MacDougall this season. He’ll enter play holding the HPU record for best single-season scoring average (72.03), most birdies in a season (107) and most rounds at or below par (15).
The regional will take place from May 14-16 while the NCAA Championships held in Stillwater, Okla. on May 22-28. To qualify for the national championship, MacDougall will have to be the top finisher not on one of the top five teams from the regional.