McDermott Ties For 48th In NCAA Championship Finals

        SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — University of Colorado sophomore golfer Dylan McDermott advanced out of a playoff here early Monday and then went on to finish tied for 48th as the stroke play portion of the NCAA Championship Finals came to a conclusion.
 
        McDermott wrapped things here with a 2-over 72, giving him a 7-over 287 total.  He had three birdies and 10 pars with five bogeys in the hot Arizona sun, in a round that took 5 hours and 15 minutes to complete.  The 287 gross score is the fourth-best by a Buffalo in 72 holes in an NCAA, behind three 286 performances including Hale Irwin's win in the 1967 event.
 
        He started and finished his round with birdies on the 7,289-yard, par-70 Grayhawk Golf Club course design.  He began the day on the 390-yard, par-4 10th hole and opened with a birdie, but bogeyed No. 12, a 468-yard, par-4; he then made six straight pars to finish the back nine even.  That included parring the toughest hole of the tournament, the 520-yard, par-4 18th hole, which No. 1 Vanderbilt went through before him and its five players were collectively 9-over par. It was the second time McDermott parred it Monday, as it was also the playoff hole he played earlier in the day.
 
        He ran into a stretch of trouble on the front side; after parring No. 1, he scored consecutive bogeys on Nos. 2, 3 and 4 to climb to 3-over.  After scoring a 3 on the par-3 5th, he birdied the short par-4 No. 6 (348 yards), but then bogeyed No. 7 (a 502-yard par-4).  No. 8 was a par 3 which he scored par, and then he closed the round and the championship with a birdie on the 468-yard, par-4 9th hole, which his approach shot landed to within eight feet.  It was one of just 11 birdies on the hole Monday.
 
        "Obviously his par in the playoff was a spectacular one, exciting and a great way to get the day started," CU head coach Roy Edwards said.   "He played solid for the most part, just had a stretch where he struggled a bit with the three bogeys in a row, but he really had a good finish.  He had a great save on 5 from the bunker, and he nearly holed his second shot on 6 and had a tap-in birdie.  He bogeyed 7 which a lot guys do, got his par on 8 and the nice birdie on 9."
 
        "He had a spectacular year, finishing 48th out of 156 players in the best amateur tournament in the world is a nice accomplishment.  We expect him to be on an All-America team."
 
        "First of all, I'm really happy we were able to make it as a team and show that Colorado is a force to be reckoned with, so I'm super pleased about that," McDermott said.  "My game overall this week was just a little off from the beginning.  I drove it well, but my approaches were a little off and it made me rely on my short game a more than I wanted.  Other than that, I'm happy with the finish despite thinking I had a lot left in me."
 
        On his run of bogeys, he attributed it to more of a mental lapse than anything mechanical or the heat. 
 
        "I got frustrated a little bit after I was in the middle of the fairway on number 2 and then bogeyed," he said.  "That got into my head a little bit and it stayed with me for a few holes.  But I'll take the bookend birdies (to open and close the round).
 
        McDermott had a long day, first having to emerge from a playoff at 9 a.m. local time; in a three-man for two positions playoff, the trio started on No. 18.  Nine individuals advanced with the top 15 teams to the final round, and McDermott was one of three players at 5-over 215 through 54 holes tied for the last two spots.  It would be just a one-hole playoff, as McDermott and Arkansas' Mateo Fernandez De Oliveira made par while Texas Tech's Matthew Comegys bogeyed it.  That was after Tech and Ohio State began a playoff an hour earlier for the final team spot that advanced to the final round which Ohio State won.  Then McDermott had to wait nearly three hours to begin his final round.
 
        McDermott concluded his spectacular sophomore year finishing as the leader in a school record 35 statistical categories (*—indicates school record): rounds (41), *stroke average (70.12), stroke count in relation to par (minus-37), spring average (70.48), *fall average (69.67), team top finisher (9), wins (1), top five finishes (5), top 10 finishes (8), top 20 finishes (9), rounds in the 60s (20), subpar rounds (25), low 36-hole score (132), *low 54-hole score (199), eagles (4), birdies (149), pars (475), subpar hole percentage (20.7), par or better hole percentage (85.1), jumbo percentage (.244), consecutive holes of par or better (30), bogey-free rounds (1), fewest holes worse than par, tournament (4), *rounds with fewest holes worse than bogey (35), first round average (70.46), middle round average (70.40), final round average (69.46), par-4 scoring (1-over), par-5 scoring (57-under), *most consecutive rounds under par (10), *most consecutive rounds of par or better (13), *most tournaments under par (10), *most consecutive tournaments under par (7), *most tournaments of par or  better (11) and *most consecutive tournaments of par or better (7).  Those include 10 school records.
 
        "I feel like I played well for the most par this season, but I'm not too satisfied with some of the finishes I had down the stretch," McDermott lamented.  "Hopefully I can make some changes over the summer that will improve  my overall game and come back even stronger next year."
 
        Florida's Fred Biondi rallied to claim medalist honors, firing a 3-under 67 for a 7-under 273.  That bested Georgia Tech's Ross Steelman by one shot; Steelman had led after each of the first three rounds but bogeyed the last three holes to finish in a second-place tie with Illinois' Jackson Buchanan.
 
        The top eight teams advanced into match play, with the quarterfinals and semifinals Tuesday and the championship match on Wednesday.  North Carolina claimed the stroke play competition, but the official champion will come out of match play; the quarterfinal match-ups are: No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 8 Arizona State; No. 2 Florida vs. No. 7 Virginia; No. 3 Illinois vs. No. 6 Florida State; and No. 4 Pepperdine vs. No. 5 Georgia Tech.
 
NOTES: Next up for McDermott is U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying this Monday (June 5) at Tacoma Country & Golf Club, in Lakewood, Wash. … He was named to the PING All-West Region team over the weekend, the second Buff on the current roster to earn the nod, joining Justin Biwer who made the team in 2021-22 as a freshman … Yannik Paul had the previous mark for most records set in a single season with 26 in 2017-18; he held the previous season record for the lowest stroke mark of 70.24 which he set that year … How hard was No. 18?  McDermott played in five times with four pars and a bogey; Sunday?  There were just 24 birdies out of 552 attempts … The average score for all 552 rounds was 72.70; it was a low of 71.44 on Monday … McDermott was one of just 12 (out of 30) players designated in the No. 1 position to lead their teams (he averaged 71.75) … The Buffaloes set the school mark for the lowest stroke average in a season with 72.38 (253 rounds), topping the 72.51 mark for 252 rounds in the 2017-18 season.
 
NOTES II: Eleven golfers from the Pac-12 schools advanced to the final round of the NCAA Finals, five each from No. 8 Stanford and No. 4 Arizona State along with McDermott.  The Buff sophomore finished eighth out of those 11, though he did beat Stanford's Michael Thorbjornsen (292), who had won the Pac-12 title by strokes over McDermott.