2024 NCAA Championship – Page 2

John Fields wants to make Omni La Costa the Omaha of college golf. Here’s how he plans to do it

“What a great place this is, and no one even knows it.”

CARLSBAD, Calif. — John Fields’ eyes light up when he starts talking about the College World Golf Championships Foundation. He looks at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa like a little kid looks at an ice cream cone. Fields has visions of what’s to come. Now it’s just about making it happen.

Fields has seen plenty during his career. He has won multiple championships and been around dozens of world-class players during his tenure at Texas.

However, it’s this project that makes the 65-year-old golf coach jovial, beaming with pride.

Omni La Costa’s North Course underwent an extensive renovation by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner before the layout began a three-year contract hosting the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Golf Championships starting last Thursday with the women and beginning Friday with the men. Fields never wants the championships to leave, instead creating a “Road to Omni La Costa” similar to college baseball’s “Road to Omaha.”

The Men’s College World Series is one of the biggest sporting events in the world. By creating the College World Golf Championships Foundation, Fields believes he, his daughter April Workman, the foundation’s executive director, and the board of directors can do the same with college golf, making Omni La Costa a permanent venue for the NCAA Golf Championships and making the event feel like a PGA Tour or LPGA event.

“I want it to be an unbelievable experience from a player’s perspective,” Fields, the foundation’s president, said. “How do you get people to care about them? Get 10,000 people out here. We can have skyboxes around the 16th green. What a great place this is, and no one even knows it.”

The College World Golf Championships Foundation didn’t even get its 501(c)(3) non-profit status until April 26, which is when the foundation could begin raising money.

College golf: Best photos from NCAA Women’s Golf Championship

The plan? Texas will remain the host institution for the future, as Creighton, located in Omaha, is for the MCWS. However, it will be the College World Golf Championships Foundation which assists the NCAA in running the tournament and underwrite the costs of the tournament moving forward.

Fields said the foundation hopes to work with donors and former players, such as past college stars Sam Burns, Collin Morikawa and numerous others, to give back to the foundation. The idea for College World Golf Championships Foundation began more than four years ago, and now, it’s here.

“I’m hoping, God willing, that we’re able to really make this happen in a big way,” Fields said. “Take it to a whole different level and be consistent. Develop records out here, develop iconic shots on TV.

“There’s only one place like this.”

Another factor is the San Diego weather, which during late May averages highs between 65 and 70 degrees with cloudy skies in the morning clearing out by the afternoon. There’s low chances of rain or bad weather, which means the two weeks of championships can go on without delays, an important factor when deciding where to host weeks-long events.

This first year is a test run for NCAAs, though La Costa is no stranger to hosting big-time events. The PGA Tour and LPGA have both played events at La Costa numerous times. However, NCAAs is a different beast, as the resort is hosting all of the athletes on site.

Every coach Golfweek has spoken with during the NCAA Championships thus far has thought it was a positive to be on-site. Instead of having to load up a van and haul the players and equipment to the course, they’re able to walk five minutes and get a quick range session in.

The resort remains open for guests not associated with the tournament, and the South Course has some play ongoing, though the holes directly adjacent to the North Course are closed so there are no disruptions.

Some coaches like the idea of having a permanent site. Others want the championships to travel around, though the NCAA seems to have adopted the three-year model for hosting. From a logistics standpoint, it helps having infrastructure for a tournament staying in one spot for three years instead of moving around every 12 months.

At Omni La Costa, plenty of renovations, from the course to resort rooms itself, changes are being made to entice the NCAA to make the resort the permanent home of the championships.

Fields knows there’s a big hill to climb. As he comes close to the end of his legendary coaching career, his next chapter is already underway. He has been in contact with the USGA, PGA of America, PGA Tour and First Tee, trying to garner support for what the College World Golf Championships Foundation is hoping to achieve.

“I want this to work so bad,” Fields said, “but I know we have work to do.”

With the first week in the books at Omni La Costa, the venue is off to a good start hosting the NCAA Championships. In Fields’ vision, it’s just the beginning of what’s to be a partnership well into the future.

Rachel Heck clinches match as Stanford beats UCLA to win 2024 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship

It’s the third title for Stanford in school history.

CARLSBAD, Calif. — Rachel Heck started walking after her ball before it was close to the hole. It seemed as if she started reaching into the cup before the putt dropped.

It was clear early on. In her final collegiate start, Heck was leaving nothing in the table.

“Yeah, I don’t normally walk in putts,” Heck said. “But it was a good speed and I decided to walk it in. I felt that it was going to be good.”

The senior for Stanford was the anchor, and she delivered in a big way. Her victory against Kate Villegas secured the 2024 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship for the Cardinal, topping UCLA 3-2 in the match play final. Heck had a lag putt she hit to within a couple feet on the final hole, and Villegas couldn’t convert her birdie. The celebration ensued quickly after.

“That’s Rachel Heck for you,” Stanford coach Anne Walker said. “It’s like it was scripted that way.

The win was Stanford’s second title in three years and third overall and a fitting end Heck’s career as one of the best Stanford players of all-time.

Heck clinched the final point on the par-4 15th hole, winning her match 4 and 3. She closes her career with her second team title, and Heck also won the 2021 NCAA individual title as a freshman.

Walker mentioned how Heck, who won for the ninth time last week, wasn’t sure whether she would return this season. Injuries the past two years hampered her ability to play golf, but the talent remained. That showed Wednesday.

She walked in the birdie on the first hole. On the second, she had an iron into a par-5 and hit it to 15 feet and had a comfy birdie. On the third hole, Heck hit an iron into the par-3 green that never left the flag and ended 10 feet from the hole. Although she didn’t make the putt, it set the tone early that she wasn’t going to lose.

“This felt a little bit more enjoyable because you know, this, this really is it for me, this is the end of a chapter,” Heck said. “2022, obviously that was one of the best weeks of my life. I was looking at our senior I was like, ‘dang, she got to win her senior year, like what a perfect ending last chapter of her life.’ How cool would it be to win my senior year?”

It’s the third title for Stanford in the match-play era, the only school to win three titles since the switch to match play.

Kelly Xu earned the first point for Stanford with a 4-and-3 win against UCLA’s Meghan Royal. Then Megha Ganne added the second point, beating Natalie Vo 3 and 2.

Ganne was on the 16th green when Heck was on the 15th, and Ganne clinched her match after dropping a shot on the 15th. Fans rushed around the pond from the 16th green over to the 15th, where Heck was lining up her lag putt, and once again as she has done numerous times throughout her career, Heck closed the door and clinched the title.

“I felt really, really solid with my game,” Heck said. “Really good with my mental state more than anything at this point in the week. It just takes a lot of mental strength and perseverance, and I think everything I’ve been through the last year has helped with that a lot.”

Added Walker: “I’m just glad she got to have that moment. One of the best players to ever play college golf, so for her to be able to have this?”

No better way to go out.

Championship match results

No. 1 Stanford vs. No. 6 UCLA

Kelly Xu (Stanford) def. Meghan Royal (UCLA), 4 and 3
Megha Ganne (Stanford) def. Natalie Vo (UCLA), 3 and 2
Zoe Campos (UCLA) def. Sadie Englemann (Stanford), 4 and 3
Rachel Heck (Stanford) def. Kate Villegas (UCLA), 4 and 3
Caroline Canales (UCLA) def. Paula Martin Sampedro (Stanford) 2 up

Stanford gets revenge against USC, will face UCLA in final at 2024 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship

Stanford and UCLA will play for the national title.

CARLSBAD, Calif. — Screams erupted from the 16th hole green, racing toward the 18th green some 200 yards away.

Kelly Xu’s hands went up in the air. Her teammates’ voices beckoned a celebration. The victory was secured.

Last season, Stanford fell in the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship semifinals against conference foe USC. The teams were matched up Tuesday afternoon at Omni La Costa’s North Course, a date in the national championship match on the line again, and the Cardinal got its revenge.

Top-seeded Stanford knocked off No. 4 USC 4-1 in the semifinals to clinch a spot in the championship match for the second time in three years. The Cardinal will take on sixth-seeded UCLA, which beat Oregon 3-1 in the other semifinal to advance to its first championship match in the match-play era.

“We have so much respect for USC,” Stanford coach Anne Walker said. “We’ve had such a good year, and they’re so similar to our team one through five. We went out there knowing it would be close.”

Xu clinched the match on the par-3 16th green, and teammate Paula Martin Sampedro was tied in her match on the 18th green before her and the Cardinal faithful directed their attention to the celebration across the way. Rachel Heck took off sprinting through the tall grass to join in. Sampedro and others followed.

Stanford sophomore Megha Ganne won three straight holes from Nos. 15-17 to go from one down to win 2 and 1 in her match against Brianna Navarrosa. The first Cardinal point came from Sadie Englemann, a match-play assassin for Stanford, who went 2-0 on Tuesday and won 6 and 5 in the semifinal match.

While Stanford is going for its second title in three years, UCLA is in an unfamiliar position during the match play era. The Bruins have never made the championship match, and before this year, they had only made the semis one time since the switch in format.

Now, in Alicia Um Holmes’ first year as head coach after 17 years as an assistant under UCLA Hall of Famer Carrie Forsyth, the rebuilt Bruins are looking for their first championship since 2011.

“It’s kind of unbelievable, right?” Um Holmes said. “In our first year to make it this far, it’s just been a great ride with this team.”

UCLA women’s golf at the 2024 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship. (Photo: UCLA Athletics)

UCLA’s roster is comprised of three transfers, Natalie Vo (Colorado), Kate Villegas (UC Riverside) and Meghan Royal (Arkansas), the latter who graduated from Carlsbad High School. In preparation for the championship, the Bruins leaned on royal for her course experience, even if it’s not quite the same after the Gil Hanse renovation.

The other two players in the lineup, Zoe Campos and Caroline Canales, have been stalwarts. Campos was on the final watch list for the 2024 Annika Award, given to the college player of the year, and has four victories this season. Canales won both her matches Tuesday to help get the Bruins into a position they’ve never been.

“When we started off the year, we had no expectations,” Um Holmes said. “We just said let’s play, and see what they do. Let’s stick to our game and see if we can win these matches.”

The semifinals comprised of four Pac-12 teams, which will soon be three Big 10 teams and one ACC. There had never been four teams from one conference to make the semifinals until Tuesday.

A win for Stanford on Wednesday would be its third all-time. For UCLA, the Bruins would collect their fourth.

Championship match

No. 1 Stanford vs. No. 6 UCLA

Paula Martin Sampedro vs. Caroline Canales (5:15 p.m. ET, 1st tee)
Kelly Xu vs. Meghan Royal (5:25 p.m.)
Megha Ganne vs. Natalie Vo (5:35 p.m.)
Sadie Englemann vs. Zoe Campos (5:45 p.m.
Rachel Heck vs. Kate Villegas (5:55 p.m.)

It’s going to be an all Pac-12 semifinal at the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship

The semifinals are set, and it’s a historic feat

CARLSBAD, Calif. — It was a quick turnaround for the eight teams who advanced into the 2024 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship match play.

Early Tuesday morning, teams returned to Omni La Costa’s North Course and began quarterfinal matches. There were three SEC vs. Pac-12 matchups, and the other matchup was a Pac-12 team taking on Clemson from the ACC. Both Clemson and LSU were making their first appearances in NCAA match play.

Here’s a recap of Tuesday morning’s NCAA match play quarterfinals and a look ahead at Tuesday afternoon’s semifinal pairings. Every team that makes match play semifinals qualifies for the East Lake Cup in the fall.

NCAA: Best photos from Omni La Costa

Quarterfinal results

Oregon 3, LSU 2

Oregon, which advanced to the championship match in 2022, got big contributions from Minori Nagano with a 7-and-6 win, then Kiara Romero was able to hold off Aine Donegan 1 up to win and advance the Ducks. Ingrid Lindblad and Latanna Stone each won their matches for LSU.

UCLA 4, Texas A&M 1

The Bruins had a strong performance against a 2023 semifinalist. Meghan Royal won 1 up against Cayatana Fernandez Garcia-Poggio, clinching the match on the final hole. Caroline Canales won 2 and 1 while Natalie Vo picked up a 3-and-2 win, and the other two matches were tied when the Bruins picked up their third point.

Stanford 4, Auburn 1

Sadie Englemann was 1 down with one to play against Auburn freshman Anna Davis, and Englemann won the par-5 18th before winning the par-3 16th, the extra hole. Her flipping that match helped Stanford advance to the semifinals yet again. Rachel Heck also had a 4-and-3 win. Kelly Xu had the clinching point.

USC 3½, Clemson 1½

Bailey Shoemaker drained a long birdie putt on the 16th hole to clinch the match for USC, the 2023 national runner-up. Amari Avery and Brianna Navarrosa also earned points for the Trojans, which move on yet again.

Semifinal matchups

No. 6 UCLA vs. No. 7 Oregon

Carolina Canales vs. Karen Tsuru (4:15 p.m. ET, 1st tee)
Meghan Royal vs. Ching-Tzu Chen (4:25 p.m. ET)
Natalie Vo vs. Minori Nagano (4:35 p.m. ET)
Kate Villegas vs. Tiffany Huang (4:45 p.m. ET)
Zoe Campos vs. Kiara Romero (4:55 p.m. ET)

No. 1 Stanford vs. No. 4 USC

Rachel Heck vs. Amari Avery (5:05 p.m. ET, 1st tee)
Sadie Englemann vs. Cindy Kou (5:15 p.m. ET)
Paula Martin Sampedro vs. Bailey Shoemaker (5:25 p.m. ET)
Megha Ganne vs. Brianna Navarrosa (5:35 p.m. ET)
Kelly Xu vs. Catherine Park (5:45 p.m. ET)

Adela Cernousek almost left Texas A&M before her career started. Now she’s an NCAA individual champion

Cernousek is the first Texas A&M golfer to win a individual title.

CARLSBAD, Calif. — When Adela Cernousek signed with Texas A&M, she did so under the pretense that Andrea Gaston would be her head coach.

By the time she got to College Station, Gaston, a three-time winner of the national championship was gone, off to her next adventure. Gerrod Chadwell, who had plenty of success at Houston, was hired as successor an hour north. Yet Chadwell knew right away something was off.

“I remember picking her up at the airport, and I didn’t know if she really wanted to be there,” Chadwell said.

The duo had their moments during Cernousek’s freshman year. They butted heads, but Chadwell stayed consistent. Her saw promise in his freshman from France, who showed up with only 13 clubs in her bags that were comprised of mainly beginner clubs.

Chadwell pushed her to be better. Cernousek put in the work, on the range, course and in the gym, to see results.

NCAA: Team scores | Individual scores | Photos

It all came to fruition Monday.

Cernousek captured the 2024 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship individual title at Omni La Costa’s North Course, shooting 12-under 276 to win by three shots over Florida State’s Lottie Woad. Cernousek is the first NCAA individual medalist from Texas A&M, and she helped the Aggies earn the third seed heading into Tuesday’s match play quarterfinals.

“It’s hard to believe. It’s crazy,” Cernousek said. “I don’t think I was breathing at all during the whole day today. Yeah, I’m just like, yeah, don’t believe it. It’s crazy.”

Stanford is the No. 1 seed for the fourth straight year, with LSU earning the second seed in its first time making match play in school history.

Cernousek’s round of even-par on Monday helped her clinch the first victory of her college career. Last week, she qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open at a 36-hole qualifier where she had to sleep on an 18-hole lead because of weather delays, and now she also earned a spot in the field next week via her victory at Omni La Costa.

She also earned an LPGA exemption into the Dana Open.

“She puts the team first, and that’s all you can ask for,” Texas A&M coach Gerrod Chadwell said. “And then just her humbleness and work ethic. It’s crazy to think that her first (win) would be at this stage.

“I wish I had five of her.”

Chadwell noted it took time for he and Cernousek to gel, saying they butted heads a few times. Early on, Chadwell felt as if Cernousek didn’t want to be there.

She never wavered. Texas A&M was where she wanted to be, and now she’s the Aggies’ first individual champion.

“All the support I have back home by my teammates, the coaches. And yeah, the work I put in every day,” Cernousek said about her motivations.

Cernousek, from France, was on the phone with her parents shortly after finishing her round. With a nine-hour time difference, they were up at 3 a.m. back home watching their daughter achieve the greatest achievement of her life.

Chadwell calls Cernousek “fish,” a name he gives to freshman but that has stuck with Cernousek since she was his first player after taking the job.

Now, Cernousek is going to have a different nickname: NCAA champion.

Texas A&M’s Adela Cernousek is running away from the field at NCAA Women’s Golf Championship

Cernousek is the only player to reach double digits under par.

CARLSBAD, Calif. — A year ago, Adela Cernousek didn’t think she could do what she is doing now. Even her coach said as much.

However, there seems to be nothing standing in the way of Cernousek becoming the first Texas A&M Aggie to win a national championship.

The junior is running away from the field at the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa’s North Course, and she’s doing it with consistency and confidence. Cernousek, who earlier this week slept on a lead during a 36-hole U.S. Women’s Open qualifier in Texas before traveling to NCAAs, has shot three consecutive rounds of 68 and sits at 12-under 204 heading into the final round. As of the morning wave Sunday morning, she has a seven-shot lead.

“Before every tournament, I don’t really have expectations,” Cernousek said. “Just try to focus on my game, my progression and our team.

Arkansas freshman Maria Jose Marin is second at 5 under, and Florida State sophomore Lottie Woad was also at 5 under when her third round began Sunday afternoon.

In the team race, Texas A&M is at 10 under, leading top-ranked Stanford by one shot heading into the final round of stroke play Monday. LSU is at 1 under, the only other team under par after three rounds at Omni La Costa.

A healthy Rachel Heck is again leading Stanford at NCAA Women’s Golf Championship

Rachel Heck’s story is incredible.

CARLSBAD, Calif. — Last week, Stanford coach Anne Walker walked up to Rachel Heck in the 18th fairway.

“I’m going to take this last walk with you,” Walker told Heck. “I didn’t think we’d get to take this walk again.”

Heck, a senior for the Cardinal, has dealt with numerous injuries throughout her career. In 2023, she had surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome, which involved removing her first rib. She made a run in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air in Los Angeles but hardly played in the Cardinal lineup this year because of flare-ups from the injury. Over the winter, she thought her college career was over.

Last week, she captured her ninth collegiate title, winning the NCAA Cle Elum Regional. Walker joined Heck, who was unaware of her position on the leaderboard, and the duo enjoyed one last walk up the 18th as Heck went to secure another trophy in her storied career.

“It was a very emotional week,” Heck said. “She was crying, I was crying. I thought there was a chance I wouldn’t play again, and I definitely didn’t think I would win again, let alone a postseason championship. So it was really special to end like that.”

Heck, the 2021 NCAA individual champion, is in the lineup for Stanford making the final start of her college career this week at the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship at Omni La Costa’s North Course, where Stanford is in a familiar position after two rounds. The Cardinal sit at 6 under, in third place midway through the second around.

Stanford has won the stroke-play portion of the NCAA Championship the last three seasons. And they’re in position to do so yet again with Heck making a big impact. She’s 1 under after two rounds, as Stanford chases its second title in three years.

“I didn’t expect it, but I’m not surprised by it,” Walker said of Heck’s late-season run. “The kid’s barely competed. She has been through a lot, and she’s not able to get the same reps, very limited in how many range balls she can hit.”

Megha Ganne and Paula Martin Sampedro, one of 10 on the final watch list for the Annika Award, pace the Cardinal at 2 under. Heck is a shot back, and Sadie Englemann is at even-par after 36 holes.

Of teams to tee off in the morning wave Saturday, Stanford trails only Texas A&M heading into the third round. After Sunday, the field will be cut to the top-15 teams for Monday’s final round of stroke play. Then, the top eight after Monday will earn a spot in match play, which begins Tuesday.

Expect Stanford to be one of those teams, and in big part thanks to Rachel Heck’s resurgance.

“It’s good to take a step back this week and think about how far I’ve come,” Heck said. “It’s really special to be here. I wasn’t sure whether I was going to play for Stanford again. Just happy to be here. Soaking up every second of it.”

Photos: 2024 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship at Omni La Costa

Omni La Costa is hosting the 2024 NCAA Championships.

CARLSBAD, Calif. — The 2024 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship is underway.

The best female college golfers in the country are on the Pacific Coast battling it out for the national championship. Omni La Costa Resort & Spa’s North Course is hosting the championships for the first time in what will be three straight years as the host.

The course has hosted both PGA Tour and LPGA events in the past, and now it’s time for the best amateurs to take on the course, recently renovated by Gil Hanse, that meanders through the Southern California canyons.

Here’s a look at the best photos from the 2024 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship:

‘She’s the Energizer bunny’: ANWA champ Lottie Woad takes early lead at NCAA Championships

Lottie Woad loves the big events.

CARLSBAD, Calif. — Normally, when a player can’t stop practicing, it’s something a coach loves. In Lottie Woad’s case, it was the opposite.

Over the past year and a half, the Florida State sophomore has learned to be better about giving herself time off. Not exhausting every ounce of energy on practice to leave nothing for competition.

It’s something Seminoles’ coach Amy Bond and Woad discussed plenty this year. And those small changes are one of the things that have propelled Woad to stardom.

Woad, winner of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur last month, has been on a roll since her triumph at Augusta National, and that continued Friday during the opening round of the 2024 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship at Omni La Costa’s North Course. Woad had eight birdies in the opening round and is the solo leader after a 7-under 65 to open.

“She seems to be the Energizer bunny. She just keeps going and going and going,” Bond said of her star. “We’ve sent her away from the golf course a few times.”

Bond said it’s “unbelievable” how much Woad has picked up her play since winning the ANWA. She made her first major championship start, carding 17 birdies and finishing T-23. Then she returned to Florida State, after missing the ACC Championship to play in the Chevron, and finished third at the NCAA Las Vegas Regional, leading the tournament for a majority of the way.

Now, her elevated play is continuing at the national championship. After the morning wave, Woad has a one-shot lead over Clemson’s Isabella Rawl.

“There has been a lot of change for me recently, but I keep thinking it’s a good thing in order for all of this to happen,” Woad said. “All of the change has been really, really cool.”

Woad said playing with Madelene Sagstrom and Gabriela Ruffels in the first two rounds at the Chevron was important because of the conversations she was able to have with the two former amateur stars. That advice has helped her handle the tumultuous changes.

However, her skills on the golf course remain sharp. Woad turned in 3 under starting on Omni La Costa’s back nine, then she added five birdies on the front, including four in five holes.

Her confidence is as high as ever, and it’s something that is propelling her into another stratosphere.

“Not that she didn’t already have it because she certainly does now,” Bond said, “but now she truly knows she can get it done when she needs to.”

And after the opening round at NCAAs, Woad is proving again she’s a force to be reckoned with in the biggest events.

The golf program at this storied university qualified for the NCAA finals for the first time in 58 years

Coach John Handrigan’s men did something the program hadn’t accomplished since 1966

Deep in the heart of Texas Wednesday, coach John Handrigan’s Notre Dame men found the right golf shots at the right time to do something the program hadn’t accomplished since 1966 — qualify for the NCAA championship as a team.

No. 3 player Nate Stevens followed a holed-out second shot for eagle 2 at the par-4, 427-yard 17th with a birdie 3 at the par-4, 517-yard 18th hole of the University of Texas Golf Club to finish a three-under-par round of 68 which helped the Irish to a third-place finish in the 54-hole NCAA Austin (Texas) Regional.

Stevens, a sophomore from Northfield, Minn., who started the day tied for 37th place individually, ended up tied for 12th – sharing the largest improvement in the field on the day. His one-under 212 total left Stevens second on the team behind freshman No. 5 Rocco Salvitti of Canonsburg, Pa.. who birdied the 16th and 17th holes on his way to a one-over 72 which left him tied for ninth individually at two-under 211.

Freshman No. 2 Jacob Modleski of Noblesville, Ind., and Guerin Catholic, gave Handrigan and the Irish a third Top-15 finish at even-par 213 following a closing one-over 73.

With the youngsters leading the way, Notre Dame was able to overcome a four-over 288 round to finish third at six-under 846 behind host Texas, which shot five-under 279 to run away with the team title at 27-under 825 thanks to the efforts of medalist Christian Maas (66-204) and runner-up Nathan Petronzio (69-205).

Tennessee, led by Bryce Lewis’ 70-208 effort, shot 285 for a three-day total of 841, five strokes better than the Irish, who had rounds of four-over 75 from graduate captain Palmer Jackson and senior No. 4 Angelo Marcon. Jackson was at two-over 215 to finish tied for 25th while Marcon totaled 217 for a tie for 35thplace.

Texas, Tennessee, Notre Dame, Utah (850) and Wake Forest (854) qualified as teams and individual Kelvin Hernandez of UNC Greensboro also advanced to the NCAA finals May 25-29 at the par-72, 6,996-yard North course at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.

The 5-foot-9 Salvitti, easily Notre Dame’s most consistent player during the 54 holes as his rounds of 70, 69 and 72 attest, birdied the first hole but then couldn’t get anything to drop while making 10 pars and four bogeys. But Salvitti finished strongly with a birdie at the par-3, 248-yard 16th hole, another birdie at the 427-yard 17th and a par at 18.

The 6-foot-2 Stevens, too, had to overcome some early struggles. He had a roller-coaster start with three birdies and two bogeys in his first seven holes and then doubled the 605-yard, par-5 ninth to go out in one-over 36. But he closed with a four-under 32 thanks to two birdies and his holed-out eagle at the par-4 17th.

The 5-foot-10 Modleski, who had a pair of 70s to open the tournament, made double bogeys on the par-3 second and par-4 sixth holes in addition to two other bogeys. But he offset them with four birdies, the last at the 13th hole before finishing with five straight pars.

The 6-foot-1 Jackson, who grew up in western Pennsylvania and is named after golfing great Arnold Palmer, had 14 pars and four bogeys in his round of 75. The 5-foot-10 Marcon, a senior from San Francisco, had three birdies, not enough to offset the five bogeys and one double he made in his round of 75.