BYU Men’s Golf tees off at NCAA Regionals
By Shaun Gordon
BYU Men’s Golf tees off in the Norman Regional this week, needing a Top 5 finish to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
Last week it was the women’s turn. This week it’s the men teeing off.
BYU Men’s Golf competes in the NCAA Regionals today through Wednesday, with 54 holes standing between them and a berth in the NCAA Championships.
Last week, the BYU women’s team fell short of qualifying for the championships, finishing ninth out of sixteen teams. However, Rose Huang will represent the Cougars individually at the championships later this week, after shooting four-under over her three rounds at regionals.
The format for the men is similar to what it was for the women. Fifteen teams, including BYU, will compete in the Norman Regional, with the five best teams advancing. One major difference comes with the individual qualifiers, though. Instead of three golfers advancing individually like the women’s regional, only one golfer that doesn’t qualify as part of a team will make it through to the championships.
The Cougars will compete at the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club in Norman, Oklahoma. It’s the home site for top-seeded Okhlahoma, the No. 3 team in the nation according to Golfstat.
BYU enters the tournament ranked No. 39, and they were awarded the No. 7 seed in the Norman Regional.
They’ll have to outshoot at least two teams that are seeded higher if they want to advance to the NCAA Championships, but in the golf world that’s not much of a stretch.
This is BYU’s sixth straight trip to regionals, but they haven’t advanced to the championships since 2010.
The Cougars are led by senior Patrick Fishburn, who’s ranked No. 37 in the nation individually. It’s a team event, though, and it will take a strong performance from all five golfers to snap their eight-year drought.
Fans can follow the BYU’s progress here.