The Tennessee Volunteers advanced to the NCAA Golf Championships on Tuesday with a fifth-place finish in the Bryan Regional from Traditions Club in Bryan, TX. The Vols needed to be one of the Top 5 teams out of the 14 entries to make the championships, and snuck in with an incredible comeback effort during a massive day on Tuesday.
This is the third straight NCAA Championships appearance for the Volunteers.
The regional was intended to be a three-day event from Monday to Wednesday, but a poor weather forecast on Wednesday forced the final two rounds to be played on Tuesday. Tennessee entered Tuesday fifth in the rankings after Monday’s round, but the Vols slipped to a double-digit stroke deficit in sixth place during the end of the second round and the start of the third round.
Despite the blown position and the long playing conditions, Tennessee’s unit didn’t back down. The Vols mounted a comeback late during the second round, which carried into a dominant showing in the third round. Tennessee wound up finishing the tournament at 18-under-par, which was good for fifth-place in the regional and five strokes ahead of sixth-place TCU.
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UT Sports attributes a defining aspect of the comeback to senior golfers Josh Hill and Lance Simpson.
“Hill was consistently great all week for the Vols, notching three consecutive rounds in the 60s to post Tennessee’s best individual 54-hole score in an NCAA Regional in program history,” UT Sports writes. “… Simpson approached round three with a similar mindset, finding a new gear to keep the Vols alive.”
Texas finished first in the regional at 45-under-par, followed by Texas A&M (-40), Chattanooga (-23), North Carolina (-19), and Tennessee (-18). All five of these teams have advanced to the NCAA Championships round.
The Vols now look ahead to the NCAA Championships, which will take place from May 29 to June 3 at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa’s Champions Course in Carlsbad, California.
