INDIANAPOLIS – Hayden Shieh of the Santa Clara men's golf will make his third-straight appearance in the NCAA Championships.
The junior qualified for the Stanford regional, one of six around the nation that feature 54 holes played May 15-17. The low five programs and the low individual not on one of those teams from each regional will advance to the finals, set for May 26-31 at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Illinois.
Stanford is one of three regionals with 13 teams and 10 individuals. The other three have 14 teams and five individuals.
Shieh is No. 88 in the nation according to head-to-head player rankings of Golfstat.com, but is fifth among the 45 individuals selected to play in the NCAA regionals. He is seeded No. 2 among individuals in the Stanford regional behind Cal's Collin Morikawa.
"His ranking keeps getting better every year," Santa Clara head coach Rob Miller said. "It's really hard to get to nationals."
The native of Fremont, California, is already the only Bronco to earn All-West Coast Conference honors three times and nearly etched his name deeper in the record book at last month's league tournament when he was seeking to become the first Santa Clara golfer to claim the title.
"His ranking is high because of the fall," Miller said. "He was around 450 after the fall and moved to where he is now. There are so many good players out there, but he was easily one of the top 20 players in the country this spring."
He competed in all 10 events this season, posting seven top 10 finishes, including a runner-up showing at the WCC Championships (April 20-22 in Provo, Utah), falling in a playoff to BYU's Peter Kuest. It still marked the best-ever finish by a Santa Clara golfer at the league tournament. He has placed among the top three in four of his last six tournaments.
In addition to being a two-time first team all-conference pick (2015-16, 2016-17), Shieh was also named to the WCC All-Academic squad the last two seasons.
Shieh won't have to travel far and is familiar with the Stanford Golf Course.
"He has a lot of experience there," Miller said. "Things have to go right. But the way he's been playing he's got a realistic chance to make nationals."
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