Tag: 2023 National Golf Invitational

Texas State wins inaugural National Golf Invitational in a Kentucky Derby-style horserace in the desert

Texas State capped off its season with a third team title.

From where Shane Howell was sitting, Sunday at the National Golf Invitational felt like the Kentucky Derby.

“Somehow, some way we ended up on top of the board,” said Howell, head coach at Texas State.

Scoring swings are a reality of college golf, but the final round at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes in Maricopa, Arizona, was something else entirely. Five teams landed within two shots of each other at the top of the leaderboard with Texas State, at 7 under for the week, narrowly beating Penn State and Wyoming, who tied for second at 6 under. Ball State and Stetson tied for fourth at 5 under. All five teams had the lead at some point on Sunday.

Howell normally isn’t a serial Golfstat refresher while he coaches, but Sunday was a different story. Howell checked the leaderboard after the first six holes to find his counters 9 over for the day. He checked it again after 12 holes and saw the beginning of a comeback.

Howell went to work on the par-5 16th hole, which Texas State played in 2 under thanks to birdies from Marcelo Garza and Jack Burke. Howell’s assistant Logan Davis was up ahead at the par-3 17th where the team struggled, counting two bogeys and a double and losing their lead to Wyoming.

By the time Garza, in Texas State’s anchor position, was standing over his approach at the par-4 18th, Howell was next to him. Garza hit his drive right into some high brush but got free relief from an old sprinkler head and punched down the fairway to 90 yards.

“I met him down there,” Howell said. “He said, ‘Hey, where do we stand?’ I said, ‘Bogey gets us the title.’ So he hit it up on the middle of the green about 35 feet and two-putted.”

Ball State was one of those teams circling the lead and while the Cardinals ultimately came up two shots short of Texas State, sophomore Kash Bellar became the inaugural NGI champion.

Every time Bellar saw Ball State head coach Mike Fleck on the course on Sunday, he asked for a status report.

“He would just tell us, ‘Hey, we’re ok, doing alright, falling behind,’” Bellar said.

Bellar’s final-round card wasn’t flashy – he made three birdies and three bogeys for an even-par 72 that left him with a one-shot win at 7 under. He managed birdie on the driveable par-4 14th from a greenside bunker, which gave him a big momentum boost and then sealed the title by rolling in a 15-footer straight uphill for birdie on the par-4 closing hole.

The NGI title marks Bellar’s first college title, and his first win in golf since the 2021 Indiana High School State Championship.

“I’ve been close a lot this spring,” Bellar said. “It was really nice to get it done this week.”

Being the first is especially sweet, and something Bellar had just begun to think about after the conclusion of the tournament even though the possibility had crossed his lips before he ever traveled with the team to Arizona.

“I forget which buddy I told,” Bellar said. “I was telling him that this is the first time there has ever been an NIT for golf. How would it be to be the first one to win it?”

Texas State will process that, too. The NGI is the team’s third title this season, which is an exceptional number for a team that struggled with injury as much as the Bobcats did. At some point during the year, three of Howell’s five starters were out with injury. That includes Garza, who played the first tournament of the year, sat out the rest of the fall with a wrist injury and didn’t start playing again until January. That made it fitting for Garza to be the one to clinch the NGI title.

“They’ve had a great year,” Howell said. “We felt grateful all week to be there because we felt like we’ve had a good year and for Lance (Ringler, of Golfweek) to host this tournament was really kind of a second life for us. They took advantage of it.”

Like a lot of teams, Texas State felt like it had some unfinished business after the Sun Belt Conference Championship, especially after a disappointing final round that left them short of the conference match-play bracket.

“We were really grateful to have another chance to come and play,” Howell said.

Before they arrived in the Arizona desert, Howell spoke to his team about turning the NGI into a springboard to the next level. A wild Sunday afternoon leaderboard seems like ample preparation for anything next season could throw at Texas State.

“We feel like we’re a regional team,” Howell said, “so we’re like this week kind of starts our climb into next year. We kind of used that as motivation getting ready for the tournament. Win, lose or draw, we were just going to try to make sure we finished on a good note.”

Editor’s note: In May 2022, the NCAA announced it would allow schools to play in one season-ending event, similar to college basketball’s NIT. By July 2022, the inaugural National Golf Invitational was created in a partnership between Golfweek and Ak-Chin Southern Dunes, with Golfweek’s Lance Ringler serving as the Invitational’s tournament director.

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With new lineup, Utah Valley looking to win National Golf Invitational in first postseason appearance

“We have to go win this thing.”

After a hard day of work in the desert, Joe Jensen took his Wyoming team to the shade of a nearby tree and let them take a breath of relief. The second round of the National Golf Invitational at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes in Maricopa, Arizona, was a battle for the Cowboys. Jensen wanted his men to know he was proud of the fight.

“I am proud of my group because I know we slipped, and for them to fight back the bulk of the day, which they did a great job of, and so as a coach that makes me proud,” he said. “Because as I told them, their attitude stayed the same, they were still engaged, we didn’t get off to the best start but we kept fighting and fighting.”

Wyoming started the day with a one-shot lead and ended it four shots behind second-round leader Texas State. Oh, but the second round of the inaugural NGI was so much more complicated than that.

As the day wore on, seven different teams rotated through the lead. On a day like this, every shot counts, and Wyoming had to truly grind.

“There were a lot of hard-fought pars on par 5s, and the strategy,” Jensen said, “and I could go on and on and on about the thought process of gosh, let’s just make par on this and get out of here.”

To Jensen, playing for the inaugural NGI title is an “unbelievable” feeling – so much so that he knows he’ll have to work not to betray the process that helped get his team to this point. Don’t expect Jensen’s enthusiasm level to change or his team’s morning routines to waiver.

Like Jensen, Texas State head coach Shane Howell liked the fight he saw in his team, particularly on the back nine. The Bobcats turned around a shaky opening stretch and went 11 under coming in to take the lead.

“Proud of the guys for hanging in there after an up-and-down front nine today,” he said. “It allowed them to come home strong on the back nine and give them a chance tomorrow.

“We are so grateful for the opportunity to be at the NGI and the guys are looking forward to the final round tomorrow.”

On Sunday, Utah Valley will join Wyoming and Texas State in the final grouping. The Wolverines, at 5 under, trail by six. Head coach Chris Curran’s squad has had a lot of experience in that position this season, having won three tournaments in the spring season.

“I think our message is just going to be, hey you’re not sleeping with the lead, you’ve got no pressure, let’s come out firing tomorrow and try to go shoot the lowest score that we can and count them up at the end,” he said.

In a lot of ways, this Utah Valley team has shattered the norms for Wolverine golf. Brady McKinlay won four individual titles in a row in the fall and qualified for an NCAA regional, making him ineligible to compete this week. Caden Weber won the Bash at the Beach in March. Curran thinks the whole roster fed off those performances – particularly McKinlay’s stretch.

“They practice with him and play with him every day and see what he’s doing and they’re like, well I can hang with him,” Curran said. “It really elevated the expectation level of everybody else.”

For the first time in a decade coaching Utah Valley, Curran thinks any guy in the starting five could win the individual title if he gets hot. This week, Curran is discovering just how deep his roster goes with McKinlay out as well as Kai Iguchi, who competed in the PGA WORKS Individual Collegiate Championship.

“It’s kind of like a new crew for us,” Curran said. “We were joking around a little bit saying this is the first qualifier for next year just with who we’ve brought.”

Utah Valley’s NGI lineup includes redshirt freshman Braden O’Grady, who has never teed it up in competition with the Wolverines before this week. O’Grady transferred to Utah Valley in December after a year at Western Washington and was just outside the traveling squad throughout the spring season.

“He never really got a chance to get into the lineup and then kind of with how things have transpired, we were like, we’ve got to get this kid some reps,” Curran said. “He’s come in and done a great job for us.”

Utah Valley is on track to break its program scoring record at the NGI this week, which is just another line in a historic season.

This is Utah Valley’s first postseason appearance, and they’re drawing some inspiration – and competition – from the men’s basketball program. In March, the Wolverines advanced to the semifinals of the National Invitational Tournament, the event comparable to the NGI in men’s golf.

“We’re now kind of joking that well, we have to do better than our basketball team did,” Curran said. “We have to go win this thing.”

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‘We’re an underdog story’: Stetson turned up the heat in qualifying, and it led the Hatters all the way to the postseason

There isn’t much breathing room on the first-round leaderboard at the National Golf Invitational.

There isn’t much breathing room on the first-round leaderboard at the National Golf Invitational. Even as Wyoming finished the day 8 under at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes in Maricopa, Arizona, the Cowboys only gave themselves a one-shot cushion on Penn State.

The top nine spots on the leaderboard are separated by seven shots. Stetson, in 11th place at 2 over, is only 10 shots off the pace. And for a program that lives in the red, 10 shots is very much in the conversation.

The Hatters have never competed in the postseason before this year. Second-year head coach Danny Forshey has pushed a competitive culture back home in Daytona Beach, Florida, and it carried his team all the way to the desert.

Forshey, who previously coached at Appalachian State, Bethune-Cookman and Alcorn State, took inventory when he arrived two years ago. He brought in five new players this season to blend with the roster already in place. Then it became a birdie fest – all the time.

“We had a super competitive qualifying every time we qualified, and it was tough to get in the lineup,” Forshey said. “It forced guys to get better and shoot lower scores.”

Most of the time, it took rounds in the 60s, or at least under par, to get a seat in the team van. Some players didn’t get to compete in tournaments as much as they’d hoped, Forshey said, but the outcome was that competition sharpened the whole roster, top to bottom.

It showed in the fall.

Stetson was runner-up at three fall tournaments and won its own Daytona Beach Intercollegiate. Remarkably, the Hatters were under par as a team in each of 15 fall tournament rounds. After the first half of the season, Stetson was ranked No. 55 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings. The team had as strong a fall season as any program in the 13-team NGI field.

“We have a special group now,” Forshey said, “this is by far the most special team I’ve been a part of.”

Opportunity begets opportunity, and a first foray into the postseason could conceivably open even more doors for Stetson. Forshey said his men are learning on the fly at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes. He has emphasized driving the ball well and playing for the first bounce on firm, desert greens.

Mason Quagliata knows all about it, having grown up in nearby Scottsdale, Arizona. Quagliata brought in a bogey-free, 4-under 68 to lead Stetson on Friday and is tied for third individually. Wyoming’s Tyler Severin has the individual lead at 6 under.

“I got off to a really good start, started birdie-birdie, so that always helps get into the flow of things,” Quagliata said. “And then the putter felt really good. Just felt like I got it in all the right spots, was getting up and down when I needed to and just felt like I was capitalizing on all the right opportunities.”

Quagliata, a redshirt junior, has never played a college event in his home state. Already this week, he’s had his teammates to his house and taken them to his home golf course.

As an upperclassmen, Quagliata has seen both the pre-Forshey era of Stetson golf and the post-era. If you weren’t working hard, Quagliata said of the new climate, you weren’t going to play.

“We definitely all got more comfortable under par when scores like that are being shot in qualifying because then you come out to a tournament and it’s not as big a deal to shoot under par when you’re doing it every time at your home course,” he said.

When he went through the recruiting process, Quagliata wasn’t much concerned with postseason. He wanted to go to a school where he could play and get better, but this week is a nice bonus.

Forshey is proud of the buy-in from players like Quagliata as well as new recruits who believed in what could be accomplished at Stetson. The NGI is a big step forward in the program’s progression.

“I think the thing that’s fun for us is this was an idea, it was a dream and it was just a thought a year or so ago,” Forshey said. “We tried to put a plan together to get a group of guys together that want to compete and can compete. Not everybody is interested in being a part of that because sometimes that means you might not get to play as much.

“We put together a special group and all the guys bought in. We’re an underdog story.”

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Here’s why the inaugural National Golf Invitational is pivotal for college golf’s postseason

“Our guys are excited that they get to go play in a postseason event.”

MARICOPA, Ariz. — Last week, the inaugural National Golf Invitational came to life.

Think NIT of college golf. Every team’s goal is to make it to the NCAA Championship, but sometimes there are teams eligible for NCAA Regionals that don’t get selected.

That’s where the NGI comes in.

Last year, the NCAA announced it would allow teams to play in one season-ending event, and Golfweek teamed up with Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club in Maricopa, Arizona, just south of Phoenix, to host the inaugural National Golf Invitational.

The women’s championship wrapped up Sunday, with Penn State taking home the title. The men’s 54-hole tournament began Friday.

National Golf Invitational: Men’s field | Women’s results

For some teams, like Arkansas State, it’s an opportunity for a postseason appearance and invaluable experience.

“If you look at college golf, especially in 2023, it’s as deep as it has ever been,” Arkansas State coach Mike Hagan said. “So if you just missed out on making regionals, that doesn’t mean you had a bad year. (The NGI) is a big deal for us.”

A look at the pin flag at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes, site of the 2023 National Golf Invitational. (Photo: Cameron Jourdan/Golfweek)

The Red Wolves are one of 13 teams competing on the men’s side in a field that includes Power 5 programs and mid-majors. The Penn State men are also in the field and will look to complete a sweep this week.

Wyoming coach Joe Jenson said having another postseason event will benefit college golf in the long run, too. He uses Colorado as an example, which got into regionals while being near the cut off and played its way into the NCAA Championship.

“We competed very closely with them all year, and it benefited us seeing their success,” Jenson said. “There’s just enough good teams that aren’t selection for regionals, so I can’t say enough about what this event means for players and us coaches.”

On Thursday, windy conditions swept Ak-Chin Southern Dunes as teams paraded around the golf course getting last-minute preparations in. For some players, it would be their final college golf tournament. For others, the NGI could provide important postseason experience and lead to a jump start into their next season.

College golf’s new postseason event is here. And it’s something that’s only going to grow and provide championship opportunities for numerous schools worthy of hoisting a trophy.

“Our guys are excited that they get to go play in a postseason event,” Hagen said. “We get to maybe win a championship that not a lot of people get a chance to.”

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NGI college golf: Ball State and Washington State needed conference heroics to be postseason eligible. Here’s how they did it

“We felt like we had a team, and were playing with some momentum, that was capable of winning.”

Mike Fleck, the longtime men’s golf coach at Ball State, has been talking about Golfweek’s National Golf Invitational all spring. As he coached his players over the .500 hurdle, he wanted them to understand what opportunities lay on the other side.

Postseason eligibility, for the NCAA and NGI, is contingent upon a team finishing the regular season with a winning record. The NGI decided to adopt that same postseason guideline to stay consistent regarding a team playing after its conference championship. Fleck spoke to his men frequently about the importance of getting into a postseason-eligible position, especially now that a new opportunity is on the table. The NGI debuts this year at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes in Maricopa, Arizona.

Ball State wasn’t far off the .500 mark after the first half of the season, but their spring slate was no cakewalk. After winning the Butler Invitational on March 28, Ball State ran the Power 5 gauntlet in April.

“We played in Vanderbilt’s event, which was a really strong field,” he said. “We played in Purdue’s event, which had Oklahoma and a handful of Big 10 teams and was a strong field. We played at Illinois and they had five or six Big 10 teams and it was a strong field.

“The challenge was there for us to try to get that thing north of .500. We kind of held serve at several of those events.”

Ball State enters the NGI ranked No. 132 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings, but landed at No. 97 in Golfweek’s spring-only rankings.

The big test, and ultimately the performance that secured an NGI bid for Ball State, came at the Mid-American Conference Championship. A win would send the team to NCAA regionals as an Automatic Qualifier, but the Cardinals needed to be third or better to be postseason eligible. Fleck laid out both scenarios plainly.

“We felt like we had a team, and were playing with some momentum, that was capable of winning,” he said.

Ball State men's golf
The 2023 Ball State men’s golf team. (Photo: Ball State Athletics)

Ball State worked its way up from seventh after the first round to second and in the final round, paired with Kent State and Northern Illinois, the Cardinals held their position. The AQ went to Northern Illinois, and that was still a tough pill for Ball State to swallow. An NGI bid made it go down easier.

“It’s exciting and it’s something that college golf has needed for quite some time now to match up with our peer sports at the college level,” Fleck said of the NGI debut. “For us to be a part of the inaugural event I think is pretty special. I think it carries a little bit more weight and meaning any time you’re the first to do something and being involved with this event is definitely something we’re excited about and looking forward to the opportunity.”

Fleck last took a team to the postseason in 2013, when Ball State was assigned to an NCAA regional in Pullman, Washington. They advanced to the NCAA Championship after winning a sudden death playoff with San Diego State.

Fleck has employed much the same gameplan for preparation a decade later, dispatching his players to compete in some independent events now that the semester is over. Two of the top three spots in the Indianapolis Open went to Ball State players, with a third finishing T-15, and fifth-year senior Joey Ranieri won a U.S. Open local qualifier in Cincinnati.

Expect Ball State to hit the ground running at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes.

“It would be cool to be the first,” Fleck said. “That’s what’s pretty special about this event this year.”

Likewise, Washington State wasn’t ready to be done after a historic run at the Pac-12 Championship last month. So while senior Pono Yanagi played an NCAA regional in Morgan Hill, California, this week as an individual, finishing T-32, his teammates back home continued to prepare for the NGI.

“I think the rest of the guys want to play more golf as well,” White said. “We want to be playing in a regional ourselves, but I think this is a good first step and a taste of the postseason. It’s an opportunity to showcase what our guys are capable of.”

Washington State would need the NCAA to grant Yanagi a waiver to play with his team at the NGI after already competing in a regional. White said that hasn’t come through, so the Washington State lineup was in a bit of limbo mid-week.

Still, the energy is good as the Cougars continue to work out, play qualifying rounds and hone in on areas of their game Ak-Southern Dunes will test.

The Cougars could arrive in Arizona with some serious wind in their sails after finishing third at Pac-12s. Washington State gave a gutsy performance after starting their weeks with their backs against a wall, needing a fifth-place finish or better to be postseason eligible.

White likens the conference championship to the season-opening Husky Invitational, which his team rallied to win. The focus at Pac 12s wasn’t to squeak out a top 5, but rather to attack the day, play the golf course and see what happens.

“You never know in a six-count-five-format,” White said of Pac-12s. “That’s kind of a different animal. Our guys really stepped up and the fight they showed was really special to watch. We had some moments where it really could have gone sideways but they just hung in there and played some really nice golf.

“We got paired with Arizona State and Stanford. They kind of got a front-row seat to what some of these other teams are like and how they’re built, and they stood tall and they played their own game and we walked out of there with a great finish.”

Now it’s time to stride right into the postseason.

Ball State and Washington State will join 11 other schools from 12 different states in this first-year postseason event that is expected to grow in popularity in coming years.

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College golf: Men’s field set for inaugural National Golf Invitational at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes

Meet the 12-team men’s field in the inaugural National Golf Invitational.

The 13-team men’s field is set for the inaugural National Golf Invitational, a new postseason collegiate event scheduled May 18-21 at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club in Maricopa, Arizona.

Presented in partnership with Golfweek, the 2023 Men’s National Golf Invitational will feature 13 college teams competing in a 54-hole stroke-play tournament.

The teams in the field are: Arkansas State, Ball State, George Washington, Oral Roberts, Penn State, Santa Clara, Stetson, Texas State, Troy, Utah Valley, Valparaiso, Washington State and Wyoming.

“I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am for this and how long I have been dreaming of hosting this event. To have a host in Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club and a staff that shares that same energy is going to take this event to the next level,” Ringler said. “Growing up a big basketball fan, combined with my passion for college golf, helped bring to life the NIT of college golf in the NGI. It is going to be something I look forward to each May.

“Most importantly, college golf is more than ready for this type of postseason event. So many schools put so many resources into their college golf programs and having this opportunity to play in a postseason event is something a lot more teams can realistically aim for.”

In May 2022, the NCAA announced it would allow schools to play in one season-ending event, similar to college basketball’s NIT. By July 2022, the inaugural National Golf Invitational was created in a partnership between Golfweek and Ak-Chin Southern Dunes, with Golfweek’s Lance Ringler serving as the Invitational’s tournament director. A committee determined the invitation-only field using both the Golfweek/Sagarin and Golfstat rankings, while also considering teams who had strong regular seasons.

“Over five years ago, some great friends and I were sitting around brainstorming about how this tournament could be a game changer. Partnering with Lance and Golfweek has made this dream a reality,” Ak-Chin Southern Dunes general manager Brady Wilson said in a release. “As a former basketball coach, I can’t wait to make Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club the Madison Square Garden of college golf. We look forward to creating lifelong memories and experiences for all these student-athletes.”

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College golf: Women’s field set for inaugural National Golf Invitational at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes

Meet the women’s field in the inaugural National Golf Invitational.

The women’s field is set for the inaugural National Golf Invitational, a new postseason collegiate event scheduled May 11-14 at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club in Maricopa, Arizona.

Presented in partnership with Golfweek, the 2023 Women’s National Golf Invitational will feature 10 college teams competing in a 54-hole stroke-play tournament.

The 10 teams in the field are: Penn State, Mercer, Western Carolina, Iowa, Texas State, Santa Clara, UC Riverside, Middle Tennessee, Grand Canyon and Seattle.

“I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am for this and how long I have been dreaming of hosting this event. To have a host in Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club and a staff that shares that same energy is going to take this event to the next level,” Ringler said. “Growing up a big basketball fan, combined with my passion for college golf, helped bring to life the NIT of college golf in the NGI. It is going to be something I look forward to each May.

“Most importantly, college golf is more than ready for this type of postseason event. So many schools put so many resources into their college golf programs and having this opportunity to play in a postseason event is something a lot more teams can realistically aim for.”

In May 2022, the NCAA announced it would allow schools to play in one season-ending event, similar to college basketball’s NIT. By July 2022, the inaugural National Golf Invitational was created in a partnership between Golfweek and Ak-Chin Southern Dunes, with Golfweek’s Lance Ringler serving as the Invitational’s tournament director. A committee determined the invitation-only field using both the Golfweek/Sagarin and Golfstat rankings, while also considering teams who had strong regular seasons

More college golf: NCAA men’s regional fields | NCAA women’s regional fields

“Over five years ago, some great friends and I were sitting around brainstorming about how this tournament could be a game changer. Partnering with Lance and Golfweek has made this dream a reality,” Ak-Chin Southern Dunes general manager Brady Wilson said in a release. “As a former basketball coach, I can’t wait to make Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club the Madison Square Garden of college golf. We look forward to creating lifelong memories and experiences for all these student-athletes.”

The teams competing in the 2023 Men’s National Golf Invitational, scheduled to be played May 18-21, will be announced later.

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