Tag: Grayhawk Golf Club

NCAA Championship: Pepperdine, Oklahoma to square off in Wednesday’s final match

The stage is set for what should be a competitive final match.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — After a wild two rounds of match play on Tuesday, the stage is set for a national champion to be crowned.

Pepperdine defeated Oklahoma State, 3-0-2, to advance to the match-play final for the first time in program history at the 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship. The Waves will square off Wednesday afternoon against Oklahoma, who defeated host Arizona State, 3-2, at Grayhawk Golf Club.

Clay Feagler, who aced the par-3 8th hole, put the first point on the board for Pepperdine with a 2-and-1 win over Austin Eckroat, and shortly after teammate Dylan Menante beat Brian Stark, 3 and 2. Joe Highsmith sealed the deal with a clutch shot from a fairway bunker on the 18th hole to beat Aman Gupta, 1 up.

The Sooners led for most of the afternoon, but it was Chun An Yu who earned the first point for Arizona State, defeating Garett Reband with ease, 5 and 4. Ryggs Johnston, who’s been strong for the Sun Devils all week, earned a second point, 3 and 2, against Ben Lorenz. Logan McAllister earned his second victory of the day to get Oklahoma on the board, taking down Mason Andersen, 4 and 3. Jonathan Brightwell then squared the match, also with his second win of the day, 1 up over a charging David Puig. Sixth-year senior Quade Cummins delivered the clinching point for the Sooners, beating Cameron Sisk, 2 and 1.

The final match will begin at 4:35 p.m ET, with Golf Channel airing live coverage beginning at 5 p.m. ET.

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PGA Tour pro, former Sun Devil Chez Reavie out supporting Arizona State at NCAA Championship

PGA Tour pro and former Sun Devil Chez Reavie is out supporting Arizona State at NCAA Championship this week.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Host Arizona State has a lot of support this week at Grayhawk Golf Club in its quest to win the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship.

Add former Sun Devil and PGA Tour pro Chez Reavie to the list, three different days this week.

“It’s everything for me. I’m actually in town, they’re playing here, it kind of worked out well and the least I can do is come out here and holler at them and give some support,” said Reavie on Tuesday afternoon during Arizona State’s semifinal match against Oklahoma.

A three-time All-American during his time in the desert, Reavie competed in three NCAA Championships – logging individual finishes of T-4 in 2001 and sixth place in 2003 – so he knows the pressure that comes with competing for a national title. That’s why he’s out cheering this week, with the hopes of making the team feel a bit more comfortable with some extra support.

“You never know how much that can help,” said Reavie, who returned to school six years later after turning professional in 2004 to finish his degree in political science. “You’re so interested and you want to see them succeed so bad and you want to help them and do as much as you can, but at the same time I have to stand back and not be too much and not get in the way either.”

The two-time winner on the PGA Tour also has some inside knowledge about this year’s NCAA Championship, seeing as he used to live on the 11th hole at Grayhawk’s Raptor course.

“I just loved it. It’s a great golf course, great people, when I come out here it’s all friends and family. That makes it fun,” said Reavie, who noted the stark difference in the course he knows, a par-72, and the course this week, playing as a par-70.

“It makes it a lot tougher. I like it for them, not so much for myself.”

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NCAA Championship: Oklahoma State-Pepperdine, Arizona State-Oklahoma to meet in intriguing semifinals

A pair of national championship-worthy matches are set for the semifinals in Arizona.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Match play just hits differently.

Despite only eight teams being on the course Tuesday morning for the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship compared to 30 earlier this week for stroke play, the buzz around Grayhawk Golf Club hasn’t changed. If anything it’s intensifying.

Pepperdine and Oklahoma State – the first two teams to punch their tickets to the semifinals – as well as hosts Arizona State and Oklahoma will each square off in national-title worthy matches Tuesday afternoon on the challenging Raptor course.

The Waves made quick work of Florida State, ending the match with a trio of wins in matches that never saw the final hole. Clay Feagler – who earlier this week broke head coach Michael Beard’s record for all-time rounds played for Pepperdine – put the first point on the board with a 6-and-4 win. Next up was Joe Highsmith, who earned a 2-and-1 win. Joey Vrzich put the third point on the board with a 4-and-3 victory. Seminole senior John Pak produced Florida State’s lone win.

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Oklahoma State followed suit with a 4-1 win over Vanderbilt thanks to the following results: A 3-and-1 win from Brian Stark, a 2-and-1 win from Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra, a 3-and-2 win from Austin Eckroat and Bo Jin’s 1-up win.

Arizona State advanced with relative ease over North Carolina thanks to a pair of 4-and-3 wins from Ryggs Johnston and Mason Andersen and Chun An Yu’s 2-and-1 victory.

Illinois earned big wins from Adrien Dumont de Chassart (8 and 6) and Michael Feagles (4 and 3) but it wasn’t enough to stop Oklahoma from advancing to the semifinals. The Sooners were led by the usual suspects of Jonathan Brightwell (3 and 1), Logan McAllister (2 and 1) and Quade Cummins (2 and 1).

The first semifinal match between Oklahoma State and Pepperdine is scheduled for 3:45 p.m ET, with Oklahoma and Arizona State scheduled for 4:35 p.m. ET.

The championship match will be played on Wednesday.

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Arizona State surges up leaderboard, will be top seed for match play at NCAAs

Matt Thurmond’s squad surged past Oklahoma and Oklahoma State to finish as the only team under par at Grayhawk Golf Club.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The Arizona State men’s golf team just needed to make match play, that means finishing in the top eight after 72 holes of the NCAA championship. But the Sun Devils weren’t content to just do that.

Coach Matt Thurmond’s squad surged past Oklahoma and Oklahoma State to finish atop the leaderboard after the stroke-play portion Monday at Grayhawk Golf Club. Now it is on to the match-play quarterfinals on Tuesday with ASU to face No. 8 North Carolina, beginning at 10:20 a.m. ET.

Other matches will feature No. 4 Oklahoma vs. No. 5 Illinois, No. 2 Oklahoma State vs. No. 7 Vanderbilt and No. 3 Pepperdine vs. No. 6 Florida State.

Thurmond knows his team now has to focus on the next task.

“It feels great to be heading into match play.” Thurmond said. “People that say just getting to match play is everything probably didn’t finish first. It’s nice. It’s pretty cool to have beaten everybody for four days. It was hard but we had to earn every bit of it. It’s a good feeling but again, in about an hour it doesn’t matter because we’re going to play somebody who’s excited about taking down the No. 1 seed. And we don’t get a head start tomorrow.”

The Sun Devils started the day in third place, 14 strokes behind Oklahoma State and one behind Oklahoma. But ASU managed a team total of 5-under 275, the second-best score of the day behind the sizzling 9-under 271 from Pepperdine which leaped up six places into third.

Oklahoma State imploded to a 12-over 292 for a four-round total of 1,120 while Oklahoma, the top-ranked team in the country coming in, was 9-over 289 for a 1,130.

ASU boasted balance throughout its lineup with senior Chun An Yu posting a team-best 3-under 67 that came despite a bogey on No. 18 where he went from a bunker to the water. Yu was the fourth different Sun Devil to chalk up the low score of the day this week.

“Today I felt really good. This course plays tough so I was just trying to play smart, not trying to do anything too special. Just one shot at a time. I thought I did a good job today just hitting fairways and greens,” he said.

Three ASU players finished in the top 15, led by sophomore Ryggs Johnston who was third at 5-under 275, just two strokes behind medalist Turk Pettit of Clemson and one behind runner-up Bo Jin of Oklahoma State. Johnston, who had a 7-under 63 in the second round on Saturday, went into 18 one stroke off the lead but his tee shot bounced off the cart path and into a cart. He ended up with a bogey but still managed a 1-under 69 for the day.

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“I’m pretty proud of the way I handled myself today and the whole tournament,” Johnston said. “There were a lot of nerves out there throughout the whole thing. I thought I did really well taking care of that and played some really good golf this week.”

Cameron Sisk was also 1-under for the day, putting up a 72-hole total of 279 which tied him for eighth. He was the model of consistency with 17 pars and one birdie. Mason Andersen rounded out the scoring with an even par 70.

The Sun Devils were so good that the score not counting was a still respectable 2-over 72 from David Puig.

“A lot of teams would have loved to have had that score,” Thurmond said.

There were two holes-in-one in the fourth round, the first coming from Oklahoma’s Logan McAllister on the par 3, 205-yard No. 5 hole and the second coming from Tyson Reeder of Arkansas on the par 3, 188-yard No. 8 hole. That made three for the week with San Francisco’s Soren Lind acing the No. 5 hole in the first round.

Top eight finishers at NCAAs

1. Arizona State -3
2. Oklahoma State E
3. Pepperdine +5
4. Oklahoma +10
5. Illinois +14
6. Florida State +16
7. Vanderbilt +24
8. North Carolina +25

Match play matchups

1. Arizona State vs. 8. North Carolina
7:10 a.m., 1st tee
2. Oklahoma State vs. 7. Vanderbilt
6:20 a.m., 1st tee
3. Pepperdine vs. 6. Florida State
6:20 a.m., 10th tee
4. Oklahoma vs. 5. Illinois
7:10 a.m., 10th tee

Top individuals

1. Turk Pettit, Clemson -7
2. Bo Jin, Oklahoma State -6
3. Ryggs Johnston, Arizona State -5
4. Michael Feagles, Illinois -4
5. John Pak, Florida State -3

How ASU did

3. Ryggs Johnston, -5
T-8. Cameron Sisk, -1
T-13. Chun An Yu, +2
T-23. Mason Andersen, +4
T-54. David Puig, +12

NCAA Championship: Match play field, pairings set for 2021 men’s quarterfinals

Everything you need to know for the quarterfinals of the men’s NCAA Championship.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The men’s individual national champion has been crowned, which means one thing: it’s time for match play.

Clemson senior Turk Pettit won the individual national title at the 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship on Monday evening, signing for an even-par 70 to seal the deal at 7 under, one shot clear of 54-hole leader and Oklahoma State freshman Bo Jin.

Oklahoma State entered Monday’s final round of stroke play atop the leaderboard but fell back to second at even par for the week. Hosts Arizona State climbed from third to first to take the No. 1 seed at 3 under, followed by the Cowboys, Pepperdine (+5), Oklahoma (+10), Illinois (+14), Florida State (+16), Vanderbilt (+24) and North Carolina (+25).

Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings: Men’s team | Men’s individual

With the quarterfinals set to begin on Tuesday morning and the semifinals to follow, here’s a breakdown of the teams and matches competing for the team national championship (All Times Eastern).

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PGA Tour University’s inaugural class sends 15 college players to Korn Ferry Tour, Forme Tour

Fifteen college golfers earned membership to the Korn Ferry and Forme tours as part of the inaugural PGA Tour University class.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Ladies and gentlemen, meet the inaugural PGA Tour University class.

On Monday evening after the completion of stroke play at the 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club, 15 men’s collegiate golfers punched their tickets to professional golf.

The top-five players in the PGA Tour University standings – John Pak (Florida State), Davis Thompson (Georgia), Austin Eckroat (Oklahoma State), Chun An Yu (Arizona State) and Garett Reband (Oklahoma) – receive Korn Ferry Tour membership and will be exempt into all open, full-field events beginning with the BMW Charity Pro-Am, June 10-13, through the conclusion of the regular season.

The following players who finished 6-15 in the standings receive Forme Tour membership beginning with the L&J Golf Championship, June 23-26 through the end of the regular season: Quade Cummins (Oklahoma), McClure Meissner (SMU), Michael Feagles (Illinois), Trevor Werbylo (Arizona), Jonathan Brightwell (Oklahoma), Puwit Anupansuebsai (San Diego State), Angus Flanagan (Minnesota), Alex Schaake (Iowa), Benjamin Shipp (NC State), Jovan Rebula (Auburn).

Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings: Men’s team | Men’s individual

The program is designed to streamline the process for college players to advance to the professional level while also rewarding those who honor their college commitments. Players must play on the NCAA Division I level and complete a minimum of four years in college to be eligible for the PGA Tour University Ranking List.

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Clemson senior Turk Pettit wins men’s individual national title at 2021 NCAA Championship

The Clemson senior won the individual national title at 7 under.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Turk Pettit is leaving college golf as a national champion.

The senior won his final college event at the 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship, claiming the individual championship at 7 under after an even-par 70 Monday in the final round of stroke play at Grayhawk Golf Club.

The Auburn, Alabama, native is just the second Tiger to claim a men’s individual national title, following Charles Warren in the 1997 championship at Conway Farms Golf Club outside Chicago.

Head coach Larry Penley, who is retiring this season after 38 years at the helm of his alma mater, originally had a 35-year plan, but decided to extend his career to exit with Pettit and the 2021 class.

Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings: Men’s team | Men’s individual

“I really had a 35-year plan, but then I bring in Colby Patton, who was the son of one of my former players, Turk Pettit and Kyle Cottam. And I knew immediately that those three guys were going to be very special,” Penley told Golfweek earlier this week. “They have meant a whole lot to our golf program. They’ve all made All-American. They’ve all been great champions. I thought it might be kind of cool to go out with those three. Now Colby and Kyle are going to come back, so I’m gonna go out with Turk and William Nottingham.”

Oklahoma State’s Bo Jin held the individual lead after 54 holes, but struggled for the first time this week on the challenging Raptor course on Monday. The freshman from Beijing was tied with Pettit on his final hole, but made bogey on No. 18 to card a 3-over 73, his first round over par at the championship.

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NCAA Championship: Led by Cameron Sisk, Arizona State makes top 15, eyes spot in match play

The Sun Devils have yet to have a day with every player in a groove but the coach isn’t reading much into that.

The Arizona State men’s golf team didn’t do anything fancy when it took to the Raptor course at Grayhawk Golf Club on Sunday. But then again, it didn’t need to.

The Sun Devils shot an even-par team total of 280 for a three round total of 842 which puts them third behind Oklahoma State (828) and Oklahoma (841). That’s where coach Matt Thurmond’s team started the day.

The field was narrowed from 30 teams to 15 after the round. Those left will play a final 18 holes on Monday, after which eight teams will advance to match play. So it isn’t even about being on top of the leaderboard because the team that has been first after stroke play has never gone on to win the championship. So right now it’s survive and advance.

The Sun Devils have yet to have a day with every player in a groove but the coach isn’t reading much into that.

“I think that’s a mythical dream,” Thurmond said. “In a championship like this to have five guys playing great at the same time is almost impossible. Maybe if we were on an afternoon on Thursday with no one around at Papago with soft greens and easy pins but it’s hard. Everything is hard. At the same time you have to keep believing it is possible. Every team starts the day thinking this could be our day. The reality is we’re going to keep fighting like we are. Some guys will play well, some guys don’t. The cool thing is someone has done it every day and that’s what a great team does. Someone always covers.”

The best score of the day for ASU came courtesy of Cameron Sisk who finished with a 3-under 67, highlighted by a birdie at the par 4, 520-yard No. 18. The junior from San Diego, California is tied for 12th individually with a 54-hole total of even 210.

It was his best round of the tournament, following a first round 70 and a second round 73.

“My mentality going into today was just to hit a bunch of greens and give myself a lot of looks,” Sisk said. “For the most part I did that. I hit 15 or 16 greens and stuck to my game plan. I’m putting really well. This is a very control-oriented course and I did that well today.”

Sophomore Ryggs Johnston, whose 7-under 63 in Saturday’s second round still stands as the best of the tournament, posted a 1-over 71 and sits tied for fifth at 206. His 15-foot putt for par at No. 18 just lipped out He also had a double bogey at the par-3, 230-yard No. 13 that took him from 1-under to 1-over.

“You never expect to come out and have two rounds like that back to back,” Johnston said. “I just wanted to go out and play solid and steady. I actually started out with two birdies in a row, kind of like yesterday. Then today throughout the round I didn’t hit great shots. So I kind of grinded my way to a 1-over. It could have been worse. The course was playing tough. You can really get yourself in trouble. A 71 isn’t going to help but it won’t kill you either.”

Rounding out the scoring for ASU were senior Chun An Yu with an even 70 for a 5-over 215 and senior Masen Anderson, a local product of Hamilton High School, who tallied 2-over 72 for a total 4-over 214.

For the second time in three days the non-counting score came from sophomore David Puig who registered a 4-over 74 and is at 10-over for the tournament. Puig, who has been ASU’s top performer through the regular season, had both a double bogey and quadruple bogey on Saturday. On Sunday it was the 18th hole that proved adventurous as he had a triple bogey to finish the round.

Thurmond singled out the birdie by Sisk at 18 as a key, just because it allowed his team to finish.

“That was a key moment because I thought we were leaking oil a little bit at the end,” Thurmond said. “David (Puig’s) triple on 18 was tough. One thing we had all day was everybody in the mix. So if somebody had a problem, we had somebody else to back him him up so that was a huge. So having five in the game was huge. When he (Puig) made triple there I was like, there’s no more margin for error. So the way we finished, I’m really proud.”

The individual leader is Bo Jin of Oklahoma State whose 1-under 69 gave him a 9-under 201, two strokes better than Clemson junior Turk Pettit (203). Parker Gillam of Wake Forest and Quade Cummings of Oklahoma are tied for third (5-under, 205) with ASU’s Johnston among the three players tied for fifth.

The biggest move of the day came from Florida State which had a team total of 6-under 274 for the day which propelled the Seminoles up six places to fifth at 9-over 849. All four scoring players for the Seminoles were under par with Jon Pak and Brett Roberts both boasting 2-under 68’s.

The best round of the day was by Gillam who had a 6-under 64, moving him up 16 slots in the individual race.

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Meet the 15 teams vying for match play at the NCAA Championship

Check out the 15 teams and nine individuals who advanced to the final round of stroke play at the NCAA Championship in Arizona.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — After three rounds of play at the challenging Raptor course at Grayhawk Golf Club, it’s time for the first cut.

On Sunday evening the field of 30 teams at the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship was cut down to 15 teams for Monday’s final round of stroke play. The top nine individuals not on an advancing team will also tee it up with a shot at a national title. The individual national champion will be crowned after Monday’s round, and the top-eight teams will advance to match play on Tuesday.

Georgia Tech defeated TCU in a five-player playoff to secure the final team position, while Oregon State’s Spencer Tibbits defeated NC State’s Benjamin Shipp in a 2-for-1 playoff for the last individual spot in Monday’s final round.

Get to know the 15 teams that will be competing for a spot in match play at the NCAA Championship.

Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings: Men’s team | Men’s individual

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TCU forces playoff with Georgia Tech for final stroke-play position; Oregon State’s Spencer Tibbits advances as individual via playoff

The last team and individual positions for the final round of stroke play at the men’s NCAA Championship come down to playoffs.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — As if it weren’t hot enough in the desert, the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship is really heating up before the final round of stroke play.

TCU sophomore Aymeric Laussot made a clutch 18-foot putt for birdie on his last hole Sunday to get his Horned Frogs into a tie for 15th place, forcing a playoff against Georgia Tech for the last spot in the final round of stroke play at the difficult Raptor course at Grayhawk Golf Club. Freshman Filippo Celli and sophomore Jacob Skov Olesen also made birdie on the par-4 ninth, TCU’s final hole of the round.

Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings: Men’s team | Men’s individual

The team playoff begins at 7:30 a.m. local (10:30 a.m. ET) Monday with a five-player shotgun start off holes Nos. 14-18. The No. 1 player in the lineups will play No. 18, No. 2 will play No. 17 and so on. All scores will count, and the team with the lowest cumulative score over the five holes advances.

On Sunday evening immediately after the third round, NC State’s Benjamin Shipp and Oregon State’s Spencer Tibbits dueled in a 2-for-1 playoff for the last individual spot in Monday’s final round. The pair played the par-4 10th hole, with Tibbits making par for the win. He is among nine players not on teams that are advancing still alive for the individual title.

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