ATHENS, Ga. — No. 24 men’s golf (278-279-275–832) has punched their ticket into the NCAA National Championship after a fourth-place performance at the NCAA Athens Regional on Wednesday at University of Georgia Golf Club.
“I’m so excited for our team,” head coach Bruce Brockbank said. “This is about them. They played some outstanding golf this week. I love going to the NCAA finals.”
“I think more than anything what kept running through my mind is we need to get back to the national championship for Bruce’s final year,” director of golf Todd Miller said. “The guys had a good bounce in their step from the first shot, and I feel like they stayed really present all day long.”
BYU turned in its best round of the event with a 9-under-par final round to get to 20-under par overall. On their way to making their 34th ever cut into nationals, the Cougars led the field in par-3 scoring at 3.02, and were second in par-4 scoring at 3.93 and made birdies with 60.
No. 13 Vanderbilt (277-269-278–824) took home the Athens Regional title, No. 36 Louisville (274-275-277–826 and No. 1 Auburn (277-277-276–830) took the second and third spots at 26-under par and 22-under par, respectively. Host No. 26 Georgia (279-277-277–833) placed one stroke behind BYU for the fifth to round out the five advancing teams.
Parker Bunn (70-67-70–207) tied for 10th to capture his first top-10 finish of his career at 6-under par in his first ever regional. The freshman recorded a below-par round each day for his career-best event at a pivotal time of the season.
“It was an incredible performance by Parker stepping into that fifth spot on our team and really carrying us this week,” Miller said.
“Parker Bunn was our MVP,” Brockbank said.
Kihei Akina (68-72-68–208) capped off his first regional appearance with a share of 14th at 5-under par. With that finish, Akina notched his 11th career top-15 placement in 13 career tournaments.
Peter Kim (70-68-72–210) was the third Cougar in the event to be inside the top-25, doing so with a 3-under-par scorecard. This was Kim’s third time competing in a regional in as many seasons.
Simon Kwon (74-72-66–212) had a bounce-back final round at 6-under par to help the team make the cut into nationals. Kwon ended his final regional showing at 1-under par and tied for 34th.
“Simon had a tough tournament overall, but it was a special round for him today, hitting a lot of shots and making putts,” Miller said. He’ll remember that for many years.”
Tyson Shelley (70-73-71–214) concluded his last regional appearance at 1-over par and tied for 42nd.
“This was a great course for us to play and prepare for Omni La Costa, where the national championship is. The layout, the grass and the green structures are similar.”
BYU will hit the road for Carlsbad, California to play in the NCAA National Championship on May 29-June 3 at Omni La Costa Resort.