NCAA men's golf championships: Stanford, UCLA advance to match play; Stanford's Wilson wins individual title

by David Bowers
May 26, 2014

A long yet productive day took place at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan., on Monday. With the previous cancellation of the fourth round, teams played for over 12 hours on Memorial Day to determine the top eight spots.

Of the 30 teams competing, only the lowest eight team scores—including Stanford and UCLA—advanced to Tuesday's quarterfinals in a match-style playoff, with the top two teams teeing off Wednesday in the title match. Five Pac-12 teams finished in the top 15 on Monday, with seven Pac-12 golfers finishing under par and in the top 20 on the individual leaderboard, including Stanford's Cameron Wilson who claimed the NCAA individual title on the third hole of a playoff with Georgia Tech's Ollie Schneiderjans.

[Related: 2014 Men's golf championships team leaderboard (NCAA.com)]

The Stanford Cardinal finished as the top team after the final round with a total of 13-under par, nine strokes ahead of its closest competitors, LSU and Alabama, who finished at 4-under. Despite top-ranked Patrick Rodgers’ stumble at 3-over par and Wilson saving par on the day, David Boote kept the Card afloat with a stellar 5-under par performance to complement his 3-under play in the second round. Wilson was tied for the individual lead at 6-under par with Georgia Tech’s Schneiderjans at the end of regulation. He would go on to win the three-hole playoff and be crowned national champion on the 17th hole after both golfers parred on the 18th and 10th holes. Boote finished tied for third place overall at 5-under.

UCLA flirted with the cut line down the back stretch, dropping as low as 10th before finishing in the sixth spot at 4-over par through the final round. The Bruins rebounded from a 4-over performance in the second round with a 1-over 281. Lorens Chan was the model of consistency with two straight even-par rounds and topped it off with a monster 3-under final round to move from a tie at 26th place to being tied for 10th place at 3-under with five others. Anton Arboleda struggled a bit in the final round, finishing 2-over par to finish at 1-over.

California rebounded from its abysmal 9-over par performance in the second round with a respectable 2-over par in the final round, finishing at 10-over and just missing the cut in 11th place. Joel Stalter shot 3-under in the final round to finish 1-under for the tournament, jumping from a tie for 50th to being tied at 20th overall. Brandon Hagy dropped two strokes in the final round to finish 2-over and finish in a tie for 46th place.

Oregon’s 9-under performance on Monday was the second-lowest round of the tournament, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the second round score of 17-over—the second-highest round of the tournament. The Ducks finished in 14th place, one stroke ahead of regional rival Washington. Zach Foushee redeemed himself, shooting 5-under par on Monday after his paltry 6-over performance in the second round. Foushee would finish tied for 19th place at 1-under par for the tournament. Brandon McIver finished 3-under par on Monday to bring him to 3-over par for the tournament.

Washington had a nice 1-under par 279 in the opening round, but then the Huskies shot 7-over in both the second and third rounds to finish at 13-over with a 15th-place finish. Corey Pereira completed the final round with a respectable 1-under 69 to finish 1-under for the tournament in the logjam 19th place with nine other golfers. 

Southern California didn’t have its best outing over the long Memorial Day weekend. The Trojans just couldn’t find their groove at Prairie Dunes but showed signs of improvement in the final round, finishing 15-over. Rico Hoey, the Trojans’ lone bright spot, finished the tournament with a 2-under 68 in the first round and a 1-under 69 in the final round. Hoey’s 7-over in the second round dropped him to 4-over for the tournament in a tie for 55th place.