Texas, Auburn, Alabama, UCLA, California and USC, six of the top seven schools in the most recent Golf World/Nike Golf coaches’ poll, earned top seeds when the NCAA men’s golf committee announced the 81 teams and 45 individuals to play in the six regional tournaments May 17-19. The top five teams from each regional and low individual not on those teams, advance to the 115th NCAA Championship at Riviera CC in Pacific Palisades, Calif., May 29-June 3.
Read more
Results in Men's college golf
Back to Campus Insider Index
Frittelli, White to be named co-winners of Byron Nelson Award
Texas' Dylan Frittelli and Georgia Tech's James White will be named co-winners of the 2012 Byron Nelson Award later today.
The award, given by the Golf Coaches' Association of American in conjunction with Cleveland Golf/Srixon, honors graduating seniors Frittelli (left) and White for their character, scholarship, playing record and citizenship.
Frittelli, a geography major, carries a 3.35 GPA; White, who will graduate with a degree in business management, has a 3.69 GPA. Frittelli is the top-ranked Division I player by Golfstat; White is No. 22.
Related: Golf's all-time biggest phenoms
The award, which has recognized college golf's top scholar-athlete since 2002, has only had co-winners once before, 2007, when Georgia Tech's Roberto Castro and Tulsa's Sam Korbe shared the honor.
Frittelli, who hails from Pretoria, South Africa, and White, who is from Acworth, Ga., were selected from a group of finalists that included Iowa's Chris Brant, Baylor's Joakim Mikkelsen and Dartmouth's Peter Williamson.
Sean Dove, men's and women's coach at Washington & Jefferson, chaired the selection committee.
-- Tim Murphy
(Photo by Getty Images)
The No. 1 men's team entering 2011-12 is ...
Fans in Westwood will be happy to see that UCLA is the No. 1 ranked team in the Golf World/Nike Golf preseason Division I coaches' poll.
The Bruins earned eight of the 19 available first-place votes after finishing first in the stroke-play portion of the 2011 NCAA Championship. This is the second time in four seasons that coach Derek Freeman's team has started the fall as the No. 1 ranked team, the other being at the beginning of the 2008-09 campaign.
Read more
The Bruins earned eight of the 19 available first-place votes after finishing first in the stroke-play portion of the 2011 NCAA Championship. This is the second time in four seasons that coach Derek Freeman's team has started the fall as the No. 1 ranked team, the other being at the beginning of the 2008-09 campaign.
Read more
And your 2011 NCAA men's champion is ...
STILLWATER, Okla.—By any measure—wins, stroke average, eye test, rock/paper/scissors, etc.—the best team during the 2010-11 season in men's college golf has
been Oklahoma State. Add that with the fact that this week's NCAA
Championship is being held on the team's home course, Karsten Creek GC,
and there's no doubt who the favorite is to claim the national title.
The question, of course, is whether the Cowboys will fulfill their destiny and hold the trophy come Sunday.
With crowds that are likely to number in the thousands, there will be all sorts of local support behind OSU's bid for its 11th NCAA crown. At the same time, this just might increase the pressure that Mike McGraw's crew—Peter Uihlein, Morgan Hoffmann, Kevin Tway, Sean Einhaus and Talor Gooch—is likely to face this week. There is no other outcome that will please the folks in orange and black. And there is no other outcome that they anticipate happening.
Read more
The question, of course, is whether the Cowboys will fulfill their destiny and hold the trophy come Sunday.
With crowds that are likely to number in the thousands, there will be all sorts of local support behind OSU's bid for its 11th NCAA crown. At the same time, this just might increase the pressure that Mike McGraw's crew—Peter Uihlein, Morgan Hoffmann, Kevin Tway, Sean Einhaus and Talor Gooch—is likely to face this week. There is no other outcome that will please the folks in orange and black. And there is no other outcome that they anticipate happening.
Read more
Who's No. 1 entering the men's postseason?
Oklahoma State, Lynn, Greensboro and Oklahoma City all earned top spots in the final Golf World/Nike Golf men's coaches' polls of the 2010-11 season.
Read more
NCAA Men's D-I regional selections released
Oklahoma State, UCLA, Florida, Alabama, Georgia Tech and Texas A&M, the top six schools in the most recent Golf World/Nike Golf coaches’ poll, earned top seeds when the NCAA men’s golf committee announced the 81 teams and 45 individuals to play in the six regional tournaments May 19-21. The top five teams from each regional and low individual not on those teams, advance to the 114th NCAA Championship at Karsten Creek GC in Stillwater, Okla., May 31-June 5.
Read more
Read more
Abilene Christian's Bouniol Wins Nelson Award
Neither the oldest nor the best known of college golf's prestigious
honors, the Byron Nelson Award may be the one moms and dads would most
like to see their boy win because it celebrates the graduating senior
who has best honored the hall of famer's name by excelling on the course,
in the classroom and in the community.
This year those beaming parents hail from the tiny southwestern French
village of Laloubere, about 10 miles from Lourdes and an hour from the
Spanish border. On May 3 the Golf Coaches Association of America
announced that Catherine and Jean-Paul Bouniol's oldest son, Cyril, as the 11th winner of the award sponsored by Cleveland Golf.
Bouniol, the reigning Division II individual champion and a leader on Mike Campbell's fifth-ranked Abilene Christian Wildcats, has a 3.43 GPA in business management and a rare appreciation for the many ways Byron Nelson enriched people's lives long after his competitive days ended. Read more
This year those beaming parents hail from the tiny southwestern French
village of Laloubere, about 10 miles from Lourdes and an hour from the
Spanish border. On May 3 the Golf Coaches Association of America
announced that Catherine and Jean-Paul Bouniol's oldest son, Cyril, as the 11th winner of the award sponsored by Cleveland Golf.Bouniol, the reigning Division II individual champion and a leader on Mike Campbell's fifth-ranked Abilene Christian Wildcats, has a 3.43 GPA in business management and a rare appreciation for the many ways Byron Nelson enriched people's lives long after his competitive days ended. Read more
Hoops accident sidelines USC's Lovemark
What's the old saying, timing is everything?
A year ago, when Alabama's Michael Thompson broke a finger tossing a football, at least he had the decency of doing it during the fall semester. The senior eventually returned in the spring and went on to become SEC player of the year and a first-team All-American.
With word that USC's Jamie Lovemark went a little too hard to the hoop, breaking his left pinky finger playing pick-up basketball on campus Feb. 19, the only saving grace is that he's expected to be back hitting balls before the end of March. If that is actually the case, he should get in enough reps where he's could be back in full form before the Pac-10 Championship at the end of April. Still, to have arguably the best player in college golf on the DL during the meat of the spring semester isn't part of any coach's game plan.
Boys will be boys, and you can't keep college kids from being college kids while back at school. It's a shame, though, because Lovemark's injury won't just impact him but the entire Trojan squad as well, and just as the team seemed to be building momentum (two straight wins and a No. 3 ranking in the Golf World/Nike Golf coaches' poll). In working on a story about sophomore Matt Giles for this week's issue of Golf World, we talked about how solid the 1 through 4 spots looked out in Los Angeles. Giles mentioned how even Ryan Linton was solidifying himself in the No. 5 position.
"If [Ryan] plays well this semester," Giles boasted, "I've got to be honest, I don't see a team in the country that beats us. I truly believe that."
Less than a week later, I'm not sure if he's believing it anymore. In case you didn't look this morning, USC was sitting in eighth place, 24 strokes back of leader Stanford after two rounds of their home event, the USC Intercollegiate. Aside from the Cardinal, three other Pac-10 schools (California, UCLA and Washington) are all in front of the Trojans.
Think Lovemark won't be missed, if only for a month? Think again.
22 named to Hogan watch list
Chesapeake Energy, in association with Colonial CC, The Friends of Golf (FOG) and the Golf Coaches Association of America, announced the watch list for the 2009 Ben Hogan Award, given annually to the top men’s college golfer taking into account all collegiate and amateur competitions during a 12-month period.
As I referenced on Campus Insider the other day, no real surprises from the Division I ranks. Last year's winner, Rickie Fowler of Oklahoma State, is on the list, along with 21 other candidates (that said, omission from this list doesn't mean you are no longer eligible for the award).
Ten semifinalists will be announced April 16 with three finalists named May 7 and invited to Colonial CC in Fort Worth for the Hogan Award presentation on May 22.
Bronson Burgoon, Texas A&M
Jorge Campillo, Indiana
Bud Cauley, Alabama
Sam Cyr, Point Loma Nazarene
Rickie Fowler, Oklahoma State
Dustin Garza, Wichita State
Matt Giles, Southern California
Russell Henley, Georgia
Billy Horschel, Florida
Sihwan Kim, Stanford
Trent Leon, Oklahoma State
Jamie Lovemark, Southern California
Adam Mitchell, Georgia
Eddie Olson, UNLV
Kyle Stanley, Clemson
Zack Sucher, UAB
Hudson Swafford, Georgia
Matthew Swan, Alabama
Nick Taylor, Washington
Jarin Todd, Sonoma State
Cameron Tringale, Georgia Tech
Mike Van Sickle, Marquette
Day 1 quiet at GCAA Convention
ORLANDO--From the no-news-is-good-news department, discussions during the first day of the Golf Coaches Association of America's national convention were rather pedestrian as chairman Darin Spease and three other members of the NCAA Division I men's golf committee spoke at the Doubletree Hotel outside Universal Studios, with the NCAA's Donnie Wagner joining from Indianapolis via video conference.
Spease, the senior associate director of athletics at Charlotte, reviewed most of the mechanics that will govern this year's NCAA expanded regionals (three sites to six) and revamped nationals (54 holes of stroke play with the top eight teams then competing head-to-head in match play). About the only matter that raised anything close to contention was the new Pace of Play system that will be in place for the postseason (rules officials will be using the check-point system employed by the USGA and AJGA).
Traditionalists disappointed in the format change being made at the national championship did have their voice heard when Pepperdine's John Geiberger expressed his concern about the move away from a 72-hole stroke-play competition to determine the team and individual champion, a sentiment that garnered applause from some attendees. The thing is, the match-play horse is out of the barn, at least for the foreseeable future. Talking to some of the D-I golf committee members, they believe they have to give the new format at least three to five years to play out, literally and figuratively, before even toying with the thought of returning to stroke play only. Anyone hoping sentiment might allow for a change of heart from the D-I committee is going to be disappointed.
Truthfully, the best the traditionalists can hope for would be that the committee considers having the schools play 72 holes of stroke play to determine the eight teams to go to match play rather than the 54 holes in place for 2009. At least that would allow the NCAA individual champion to be crowned after four rounds instead of the three that will now be used, which is the change that arguably has the largest number of coaches upset.
What sounded more likely to gain favor with the committee is the possibility of including 16 schools rather than eight in the match-play portion of the championship, particularly if things prove to be exciting this spring at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.
Meanwhile, the most intriguing/realistic suggestion floated Monday afternoon was the idea of increasing the number of holes played at regionals from 54 to 72. Teams would play 36 holes the first day, than 18 the next two, thus keeping the event as a three-day competition and affecting costs only nominally (Point of order: any proposal to the NCAA that will cost money has a substantially harder road to travel).
Given that regionals now have only 75 players at each site, the extra round is more feasible from a logistical standpoint. Another reason to consider the idea is that considering how only five schools will advance from each regional to the NCAA Championship, having an extra round to identify the top teams would seem to make sense. Suffice it to say, the concept seemed to have the support of the coaches in attendance as a straw-poll vote showed a 47-25 tally in favor of expanding to 72 holes.
Campus Insider continues
The latest on golf digest
Photos
Who's That Girl?
Exclusive outtakes from our photo shoot with the Golf Channel's Holly Sonders.
Features
The Most Annoying Golfers
The only thing worse than playing with one of these golfers is being one of them.
Get Game Ready These 14 fixes will put you in mid-season form now.
What's In My Bag
Nick Watney
Nick Watney
Rankings
America's Toughest Courses
America's Toughest Courses
Swing Sequences
Louis Oosthuizen
Louis Oosthuizen
