VIDEO: Men's Golf Coach Discusses NCAA Regional Performance
RALEIGH, N.C. – Playing in their first NCAA Regional since 2006 and just the second in program history, Santa Clara men's golf couldn't make up the necessary ground to advance to the NCAA Championships. The Broncos carded a final-round 280, ending one of the most successful seasons with an 11th-place finish at the Raleigh Regional, 12-strokes out of a qualifying spot with a 6-under 846.
"Great experience for the guys," head coach Rob Miller said. "Going forward we're hoping to be back, so we'll build on this for the future."
The Broncos whittled 10-strokes off their second-round score, but it wasn't enough to get into the top-5. "Overall we played good," Miller added. "Again, those two holes killed us yesterday. We were competitive and would have been right there if we had played those two holes differently."
Miller was referring to a stretch in Tuesday's second-round where the Broncos played the 14th and 15th holes at 14-over.
No. 16 Texas led from wire-to-wire to capture the team title with an 813 total. Rounding out the top-5 were No. 28 Duke (830), No. 36 North Carolina State (831), Augusta (832) and No. 21 Arizona State (834).
"When you get to these events you're going to see a lot of good teams," Miller added. "We had a couple of home teams (Duke and NC State) here that really made making it out pretty tough anyway. It was a little bit of a longshot. We needed everything to go right and a couple of guys didn't have their best tournaments of the year, and that's just the way it goes."
VIDEO | Head coach Rob Miller of @SCUgolf breaks down the team's performance at the @NCAA Regional at @PackAthletics. The #SCUBroncos finished 11th in their final tournament of the season, one of the most successful in school history. #StampedeTogether #NCAAGolf pic.twitter.com/hkdctyKM93
— Santa Clara Broncos (@SCUBroncos) May 16, 2018
Freshman Zack Kaneshiro led the team at 2-under 211. He bookended a pair of 68s around his second-round 75 to finish tied for 26th.
Competing in his fourth NCAA Regional, senior Hayden Shieh ended his brilliant Santa Clara career with a 2-over 73 to finish tied for 32nd at 1-under 212.
Sophomore Matt McCarty and junior Derek Ackerman each had their best rounds of the regional on Wednesday. McCarty was at 2-under 69, ending the tournament tied for 51st at 216. Ackerman carded a 1-under 70 to finish tied for 61st at 219.
"At the top we were a little stale this week and that kind of hurt us," Miller concluded. "But we're happy to have been here, had the experience, and look forward to next year."
Santa Clara Final Individual Results
T26. | Zack Kaneshiro | 68-75-68 = 211 (-2) |
T32. | Hayden Shieh | 71-68-73 = 212 (-1) |
T51. | Matt McCarty | 72-75-69 = 216 (+3) |
T59. | Jack Avrit | 65-74-80 = 219 (+6) |
T61. | Derek Ackerman | 77-73-70 = 220 (+7) |
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