Tag: Grayhawk Golf Club

NCAA Championship Sunday notebook: Bedlam in the desert and a Pepperdine record

Here’s what you missed Sunday morning during the third round of the 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — If the first three rounds of the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship is any indication of what fans will see down the stretch at Grayhawk Golf Club, it’ll be Bedlam in the desert on Wednesday.

The lone team under par, Oklahoma State holds a commanding lead at 12 under following Sunday’s second-consecutive round of 6-under 274. In-state rival Oklahoma is in second at 1 over, followed by host Arizona State in third at 2 over. Illinois (4 over) and Florida State (9 over) round out the top five.

Oklahoma State freshman Bo Jin fired a 1-under 69 on the challenging Raptor course and sits atop the individual leaderboard at 9 under. Clemson’s Turk Pettit is second at 7 under, with Wake Forest’s Parker Gillam and Oklahoma’s Quade Cummins T-3 at 5 under.

“We wanted to win the day today,” said Cowboys head coach Alan Bratton. “We did our job today and then the job will be the same tomorrow. Go stay focused and just keep trying to win every day. That’s been our mindset every single day, just take care of what’s right in front of you stay in the moment and just be yourself.”

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Player breaks coach’s Pepperdine record

Michael Beard isn’t just the head coach for Pepperdine men’s golf. He’s a former player, too.

Now in his ninth year at the helm of his alma mater, Beard played for the Waves from 1999-2002, where he earned medalist honors at the 2000 NCAA West Regional and 2002 WCC Championship. He was first-team All-WCC all four years, and until Sunday held the record for most rounds played in school history.

Redshirt senior Clay Feagler passed his coach on the all-time list for rounds played during Sunday’s third round, where he shot a 3-over 73.

“Gives me goosebumps, really. I love that little guy,” said Beard with a smile when he heard the news. “I remember when he was barely above my chin when I recruited him. It’s been so neat to see him just grow as a person. I mean, his game obviously has gotten better and better, but he’s really like our leader now on our team. He’s our guy.”

“No one would have thought when he was as a junior that Clay would be as good as a college player as he is now,” continued Beard. “He’s won four times. I don’t know if he was just overlooked or maybe he just didn’t play as much as a junior but he should be proud and we’re proud of him.”

Sam Houston keeps inspiring

If you’re not familiar with Sam Houston State’s road to the NCAA Championship, it was a bumpy one.

The Bearkats were forced to complete the Stillwater Regional without its leader and star player, William Holcomb, due to COVID-19 contact tracing. His teammates rallied without him to punch their ticket to this week’s NCAA Championship, their first in program history.

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Three rounds later the ‘Kats are still clawing their way through the desert. Sam Houston is in 11th place, inside the 15-team cut for Monday’s final round of stroke play. The crew from Huntsville, Texas, will need to make up a five-shot deficit to climb into the top eight on Monday to qualify for match play.

“I’m just trying to look forward. We want to focus on what we have to do. We just need to play a solid round tomorrow, and we know how to do that,” said head coach Brandt Kieschnick. “It’s a tough golf course that challenges you mentally, physically, discipline-wise, so we’ll talk about what we’ve got to do tomorrow, and just everyone execute, and just give yourself the best chance.”

“I want people to see this is a team that’s been solid all year,” added Kieschnick. “I say this humbly, it’s not a surprise. We’ve played solid every year. These guys are great players. They play the game the right way and that leads to good scores and that leads to them getting to the top. We love that we can inspire a nation through the tough thing we went through. If you can play golf and have other people watch you and follow you and be inspired, there’s nothing better than that.”

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Grayhawk Golf Club is holding up as NCAA Championship venue, but it can get more difficult

“We haven’t even started cranking these greens up.”

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — There were so many questions leading into the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship. Questions that have been lingering since it was first announced the championship was coming to Grayhawk Golf Club.

The one that was usually asked first, and certainly the most, was: Could it test the best players in college golf?

With only two teams and 11 players in the red, one could say the golf course is doing its part.

When you think of major championship-style golf courses, playing in the desert is not something that comes to mind. In fact, the NCAA has only played the finals once in the state of Arizona. That came in 1971 at Tucson National Golf Club with Texas winning the team title and Ben Crenshaw claiming individual honors.

Knowing they needed to stretch the Raptor course’s layout a bit more, the staff sat down a couple of years ago and looked at aerial photos to see what could be done.

Grayhawk was built 26 years ago and the angles and lines are much different today compared to then.

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“We started taking measurements from existing tee boxes and where the angle points of those tee boxes are and we decided how we could add some tee boxes,” said Grayhawk course superintendent Ernie Pock.

In all, a total of nine tee boxes were added or re-configured. That computed to close to 200 extra yards to get it close to the desired 7,300 yards. The layout is also a par 70 with just two par 5s.

Pock and Grayhawk staff looked at the bunkers and where they could manipulate and stretch them. They also tightened up the grass lines and mowing patterns.

Also, the rough has caught some players off guard.

“Here in the desert, this time of year we normally we have no rough,” said Pock. “So, we had to start looking at changing that and getting it ready for tournament conditions. I wanted to have everything in place by April 1, so that we can start working on growing density of rough and stuff. And we nailed it.”

Pepperdine head coach Michael Beard also talked about how hitting in the fairway is maybe more important this week than people expected when coming to a desert course.

“I think the course is great. Didn’t expect the rough to be like this, you actually have to think about it off the tee. You have to make sure you are thinking about being in the fairway. If you are in the rough and maybe with greens being a little firm and a little downwind it can make it hard to hold,” said Beard.

Beard added another reason for scores not being what many thought was the change to a par 70.

“Only have two par 5s is a big reason why the scores aren’t as low – these college kids just rip up par 5s. and then if you hit one or two in the desert and I think that is leveling the scores a little bit.”

Oklahoma State coach Alan Bratton understands a few things about championship golf. His team’s home venue – Karsten Creek – has hosted a few championships and he has been part of many as a player and a coach.

“I really just appreciate how much they’ve put into making the championship. They’ve obviously brought in the rough lines and spent money overseeding and watering and doing all the things that you’d like them to do when you’re going to host a championship,” said Bratton. “The green complexes are really good here, so there’s a lot of nice hole locations. You’ve got to be precise with those short irons and wedges, you can’t just blast it around wherever you want, which you could do if they were soft. Credit to the people who put on the tournament. They’ve done a really good job. We’re excited to see what they do over the next few days.”

Clemson coach Larry Penley also mentioned how important it is to hit a good tee ball.

“I think it’s a good test that and the rough makes all the difference as well. You have to hit the ball in the fairway,” said Penley. “After the practice round, I felt like even par would be a tremendous score. And that’s holding true.”

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Everything has gone according to plan for Pock.

“Our goal was May 1 to be tournament ready. All we had to do was just maintain it and the staff killed it. Our timing was almost impeccable,” said Pock, who has close to 40 people working to maintain the course’s two weeks of championship golf.

With two more rounds of stroke play and then two more days of match play, there is room for Grayhawk to bite harder.

“We haven’t even started cranking these greens up,” said Pock. “We have junior events where our greens are harder than this, but we are in a good spot and if we need to dial it up with speed and firmness it will be fairly easy for us to do this.”

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Ryggs Johnston fires 7-under 63 to boost Arizona State into third at NCAA Championship

The sophomore shot the low round of the tournament on Saturday.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – A lot of states come to mind when you think of hotbeds for golf — Arizona, California, Florida. It’s safe to say Montana is not among them.

But it was an athlete from tiny Libby, Montana, stealing the show on Saturday at the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club.

Arizona State sophomore Ryggs Johnston fired a career-best  7-under 63 in the second round at the Raptor course. It marked the best individual round of the tournament thus far and boosted the host Sun Devils (2-over, 562) into third place after 36 holes, right behind Oklahoma State (6-under, 554) and Oklahoma (1-under, 559).

That round also moved Johnston into second place on the individual leaderboard at 5-under 135 along with Clemson’s Turk Pettit, three strokes behind leader Bo Jin of Oklahoma State (8-under, 132).

“Throughout the round I didn’t hit anything super close, but I made a ton of putts and I kept hitting it on the lines I was trying to hit it at, 10 feet and just kept making them,” Johnston said. “I was in my own little world today. I felt like I was in the zone, didn’t really think about what anyone else was doing. Just tried to focus on myself.”

Johnston said Arizona State had been a dream school of his since the sixth grade. So when he got an offer to play for the Sun Devils it was a no-brainer with the weather and the ability to play year-round. He also noted the professional players that have passed through the program.

Libby is a town of about 3,000 in the northwestern corner of the state. Johnston said the town has just “two or three” stoplights and the nearest Walmart is 90 miles away. The golf season runs from late March to early October. While some may see that as a disadvantage, the ASU standout says there is a positive aspect.

One of the biggest transitions he dealt with in his move to Arizona was the availability of the sport.

“A lot more golf than I was ever used to playing. I practice a lot but not every day and not year-round, but it’s been good. I think it benefited me to not have that when I was younger because I didn’t get burned out. I always had a break to play other sports. And I was ready to go in the spring when it came to golf.”

ASU head coach Matt Thurmond said he first heard about Johnston through an article he saw about the youngster and continued to track results from other junior events.

“I saw this phenom, 13, 14-year old had won a USGA qualifier up in Montana,” he recalled. “That was the first I had heard of him. Started seeing here and there, various different national events, but he didn’t play a ton so he was still relatively unknown.”

Johnston, who has been the No. 3 player for ASU all season, may have been the talk of the tournament on Saturday but he has had other stellar showings as well. He was a first team All-Pac 12 selection after placing fourth individually at the Pac 12 Championship at Mayacama Golf Club in Santa Rosa, California, having finished at 12-under 276.

He started the national event with a 2-over 72 in Friday’s opening round but left little doubt when he took to the course for a second time. The Sun Devils started on the back nine and he birdied the first three holes, finishing that nine with a 5-under 30. Johnston’s blistering round consisted of nine birdies, two bogeys and seven pars.

About the only hiccup on the day was a bogey at the 475-yard, par-4 third hole.

“It was pretty good bogey on 3 because I was all over the place. It could have been a disaster,” he said.

Thurmond likes the position his team is in with a cut from 30 to 15 teams coming after Sunday’s third round. The top eight after the fourth round on Monday then advance to match-play quarterfinals.

ASU’s top two players bounced back after sub-par opening rounds. Sophomore David Puig and senior Chin An Yu both posted second rounds of 1-over 71. The 71 from Puig was especially noteworthy because his round included a double bogey as well as a quadruple bogey on the par-4 seventh. He had finished the back nine with a 3-under 32 and was still at 3-under when he got to No. 7.

Rounding out the scoring was Cameron Sisk with a 3-over 73. The score thrown out was a 4-over 74 by Mason Andersen, who was the team’s low scorer in the opening round.

Thurmond said he tries to go to the hometowns of all of his players but has yet to make it to Libby. If Johnston has another round like he did on Saturday, that could come sooner rather than later.

“I haven’t made it up there and I feel really bad about it,” he said. “I think I need to, maybe go fishing with him.”

Third round action gets underway at 6:10 a.m. with ASU scheduled to go off in the lead group. There is no admission for spectators.

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NCAA Championship Saturday notebook: Oklahoma State’s big day, Sun Devil gets hot

Here’s what you missed from the morning wave Saturday at Grayhawk Golf Club.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — During a practice round at the Big 12 Championship in April, Oklahoma State’s men were on a par 3 comparing clubs. Freshman Bo Jin pulled a shorter club.

“They were kind of teasing him or questioning him,” remembered head coach Alan Bratton, “and (Jin) said, ‘Hey, I decide how far this club goes.’”

The Beijing, China, native has carried that strong mentality to the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship, where he’s led himself and his Cowboys to the top of the individual and team leaderboards after two rounds at Grayhawk Golf Club. Oklahoma State holds a comfortable lead at 6 under.

“Obviously I’ve got to play smart, can’t always go for every single flag, there’s trouble around the greens but my irons are pretty well, I’m putting pretty well so you’ve just got to hit it somewhere near there and try to make the putt,” said Jin after his second-round 5-under 65 on Saturday. “To me playing a hard golf course, you’ve got to manage your game more. Keep making pars, par is a good score. If you get a birdie that’s a bonus but a bogey will never kill you on a hard golf course.”

On a challenging Raptor course that hasn’t given way to many birdies, Jin made seven of them, offset with just two bogeys. He currently sits at 8 under, three shots clear of Arizona State’s Ryggs Johnston and Clemson’s Turk Pettit, who are T-2 at 5 under after Saturday’s morning wave.

The Cowboys as a whole minimized mistakes in the second round, which Bratton said was the difference-maker in his team’s five-shot swing from the first round.

“We made several double bogeys yesterday, so I think we’re just getting more used to the golf course,” explained Bratton. “And obviously the conditions in the morning are a little easier. That’s why you play for a top seed like that and hopefully play well, so we get to go out early. Obviously, we’ll get to go out early again tomorrow. That’s big.”

“I mean, there’s a few hole locations, No. 1, No. 4, No. 6 today, this afternoon, those are going to be difficult,” he continued. “They were hard this morning.”

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Sun Devil catches fire

Arizona State sophomore Ryggs Johnston shot the low round of the week thus far, dancing his way around Grayhawk on Saturday to the tune of 7-under 63 to move into a tie for second on the individual leaderboard. The Libby, Montana, native began his day on No. 10 and made three consecutive birdies, ultimately making the turn in 5-under 30 thanks to three later birdies and a bogey. After the turn he played Nos. 2-5 birdie, bogey, birdie birdie.

To put that score in perspective, the scoring average for the second-round morning wave was 72.27.

Pants in the desert?

With temperatures at Grayhawk flirting with 100 degrees, Wake Forest is the only team in the field wearing pants every day, and it’s for a good reason.

Tradition.

“Coach Haddock always felt that shorts were for junior golf,” said current head coach Jerry Haas referring to legendary Demon Deacons coach Jesse Haddock. “If you want to be a professional and that was your ambition to be a pro, then you should wear long pants and the story goes that some kid wanted to wear shorts and coach told him, ‘Go back to your club, and you ride in your cart and you drink your beer and you shoot your 75s. Curtis (Strange), Lanny (Wadkins), they wear long pants and shoot 67 on Sunday.’ So that was the end of that.”

“I’m doing it for Coach Haddock, honoring his wishes,” said Haas. “He was a legendary coach and a great man and my coach when I played at Wake. I think it looks good. I think you look like a player. If you want to be a player, that’s just the way it is.”

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Hosts Arizona State in contention after first round at NCAA Championship

The Sun Devils relied heavily on the bottom of their lineup on Friday at Grayhawk.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – The first round of the NCAA Division I Men’s NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club didn’t exactly start the way Arizona State head coach Matt Thurmond had hoped. All five Sun Devils settled for a bogey on the par-4 first hole.

Fortunately for the host school things got better. The Sun Devils finished with a first-round total of 4-over 284, good enough for seventh place in the 30-team field and eight strokes behind leader Texas Tech, which managed 4-under 276.

There will be a cut to 15 teams after Sunday’s third round.

“We’ve been waiting two years for those five straight bogeys,” Thurmond laughed. “I don’t think people realize just how nervous you are, any golf tournament. Everybody is scared to death on the first tee, just hoping to make contact. That hole was playing pretty tough today. A birdie or bogey usually calms your nerves but a par, just you advance. In a way, five straight bogeys, I was relieved. Everybody’s just 1 over and you know they’re going to make some birdies.”

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The Sun Devils managed a solid first day showing on the strength of the bottom of the lineup with No. 4 player Mason Anderson carding a 2-under 68 and No. 5 Cameron Sisk finishing at even-par 70. Ryggs Johnston posted a 2-over 72 while Chun An Yu carded a 4-over 74.

All noted the early jitters.

“Nerves, a lot of nerves. We want this really bad,” Andersen said of the tough first hole for the team. “I’m sure all of the guys were just a little shaken. We have to clean that up tomorrow.”

Andersen’s round was highlighted by a birdie at the tough 520-yard par-4 18th. The hole boasted the most bogeys of any hole on the course with Anderson one of just four players to come away with a birdie. His second shot kicked off the fringe and on to the green and he drained a 13-footer for birdie. He is tied for fifth on the individual leaderboard.

“I got kind of lucky. On my second shot I pulled it and it kicked onto the green so it kind of worked out. The 13-footer I had was pretty basic, downhill,” Andersen said. “I hit it really soft and I didn’t think it was going to get to the hole and it just died over the edge.

Sisk was consistent with three birdies and three bogeys. He felt good about his round despite finishing with a bogey.

“I’ve been hitting the ball well lately. I have a lot of confidence in my game right now. But this place played like it was expected to play. It’s tough. It’s important to hit the fairway and really important to hit the green. Even from there it’s not easy to make a bunch of pars out there. Birdies when you can make them are important. It was a good day overall.”

ASU’s No. 1 player, David Puig, the Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year this season, was actually the score the Sun Devils tossed. He came into the event with a cumulative 25 under in his last 10 rounds with a stroke average of 69.2. But he finished with a 5-over 75, matching his worst round of the season. The native of Spain had four straight bogeys starting at No. 9.

The player topping the individual leaderboard is junior Cole Bradley of Purdue, who was best of the 26 players who bettered par with a bogey-free 4-under 66. Bradley, who qualified as an individual with his team not advancing, had four birdies and 14 pars with a 2-under on each nine.

He has now gone 37 straight holes without a bogey, his last coming on hole No. 17 hole on the second day of regional play at Sagamore Golf Club in Noblesville, Indiana, last week. His 66 is also the lowest score ever for a Purdue golfer in the NCAA Championship.

Among the other highlights of the day, San Francisco’s Soren Lind made a hole-in-one on the 205-yard par-3 5th hole and finished with an even-par 70.

The only other Pac-12 school in the field is Oregon State, which registered a 6-over 286, led by Spencer Tibbits and Carson Barry, both of whom finished with a 1-under 69. The Beavers are tied for eighth, right behind ASU.

The first players tee off at 6:10 a.m. They’ll go off in reverse order from the first day with Arizona State playing in the same group with Georgia and Vanderbilt at 7:27 a.m local time.

The earlier tee times are typically more conducive to better scores, so Thurmond likes where his team stands.

“The greens get firmer. It’s almost impossible to keep the ball on the green at 18. It’s a little long in the morning but the greens are soft and smooth, temperatures and wind are down. It doesn’t mean we’re going to shoot a better round tomorrow. You took the 15 best seeded teams and there were high scores this afternoon. Of the teams that teed off in the second wave there wasn’t anybody that beat us. Everybody has a morning and an afternoon time, so you add those two up after 36 to get a real idea where you are.”

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Strong language, consistent play: How Texas Tech jumped out to early NCAA Championship lead

“If you don’t put an emotion to the problem,” Texas Tech head coach Greg Sands says, “then it’s not a problem.”

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Out of the 15 teams that played in the morning wave of the first round at the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship, just two teams finished under par.

Texas Tech holds a two-shot lead over Sam Houston State at 4 under at Grayhawk Golf Club thanks to an impressive collection of opening rounds. Sophomore Ludvig Aberg shot a 2-under 68 while senior Andy Lopez and freshman Baard Skogen each shot rounds of 1-under 69. Aberg and Lopez made just one bogey each on the challenging Raptor course.

The rest of the morning wave finished over par, with Oregon State and San Diego State at 6 over and Arkansas and SMU at 7 over.

“We just played solid, we played like we played at regionals, all five guys are in it,” said head coach Greg Sands. “We’re confident, we’re working on some mental stuff that that seems to be working really well and the guys are executing and clicking at the right time.”

NCAA Championship: Leaderboard

Off the course, the Red Raiders have been working on their language this season: what they tell themselves, working on believing who they are as a team and individuals and not putting any emotions to problems.

“If you don’t put an emotion to the problem, then it’s not a problem,” added Sands.

Lopez broke it down in simple terms: “Strong language, just having a good self talk.”

Another key to Texas Tech’s early success? Forgetting how big the stage is and realizing they’re just playing golf.

“It’s not that hard, we just treat it as another tournament,” explained Lopez. “Everyone else can feel like it’s gonna be a really, really big tournament. They’re gonna get nervous, but I think right now we’re all keeping our cool and understanding that it’s just a golf tournament and we’re playing really well.”

On the individual leaderboard, Cole Bradley – playing solo with his father and coach, Rob Bradley by his side – shot a bogey-free, 4-under 66. Sam Houston State’s William Holcomb and Ting-Wei Hsieh are T-2 at 3 under after the morning.

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Purdue’s Cole Bradley shoots bogey-free 4-under to lead NCAA Championship with father, coach Rob Bradley at his side

The father-son duo is off to a hot start at the NCAA Championship.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Purdue’s Cole Bradley went 5 under in his last seven holes to win the Noblesville Regional and punch his ticket as an individual to this week’s NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship.

The junior rode that momentum 1,700 miles southwest to Grayhawk Golf Club to take the morning wave’s individual lead after an impressive bogey-free 4-under 66 during Friday’s first round of stroke play.

“I got a good look at the course and knew the spots you could be and couldn’t be and just kind of kept it in front of me today and played solid all day,” said Bradley after his round. “I’m just taking it one shot at a time and just having fun with dad.”

Dad would be Rob Bradley, Purdue’s head coach, who’s walking with Cole this week and got a front-row seat to the best round of the morning. Both father and son admitted that this week feels a little different, but they’re committed to treating it like a normal tournament.

“We just went out there and played solid and had fun,” said Cole. “My dad’s a great green reader and gave me some good reads today. I trusted a lot of them and just made good strokes, made a few putts and just keep doing the same thing tomorrow.”

“It was really cool for (Cole) to win regionals, walking with him there, so that was pretty special and then being able to come out here and get off to a good start, we had fun,” added Rob, noting how poorly his son played the day before during the practice round.

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“And then today, he just did a better job of keeping the ball in play, hit less club off a lot of the tees and really didn’t have much to sweat out there. He hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens, just kept the ball in the right places.”

No stranger to success, Rob has been at the helm of the Boilermakers program for eight years. Before settling in West Lafayette, Indiana, he played for longtime Purdue women’s coach Devon Brouse when he was at North Carolina. After his four years in Chapel Hill, Bradley played professionally on the Korn Ferry Tour (then the Nationwide Tour), including two appearances in the U.S. Open in 1997 and 2003. After his final professional season in 2008, Rob was an assistant at North Florida for three years and Alabama for one, when the Crimson Tide won the national championship in 2013.

How special it would be to win a second title with his son.

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Check the yardage book: Grayhawk Golf Club, site of the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship

Take a look at the hole-by-hole maps for Grayhawk’s Raptor course, site of the 2021 NCAA Men’s Division I Championship in Arizona.

The eyes of the college golf world remain on Scottsdale, Arizona, as the NCAA Men’s Division I Championship begins this week at Grayhawk Golf Club’s Raptor course.

The men play May 28-June 2.

Designed by prolific course architect Tom Fazio, Grayhawk’s Raptor is ranked No. 12 on the 2021 Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list for public-access courses in Arizona, and the facility’s Talon Course is No. 11.

Built across rolling desert, the Raptor features raised greens with frequently steep runoffs into deep bunkers or what will be heavy rough for the championship. Elite college players can handle the lengths the course will be set up for each championship, but they better pay attention to hitting the fairways at Grayhawk. The men will play Grayhawk at 7,289 yards with a par of 70.

Thanks to yardage books provided by Puttview – the maker of detailed yardage books for more than 30,000 courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges that players will face this week. Check out each hole below, with the yardages and hole lengths indicating the setup for the men specifically. Golfweek posted a separate yardage book for the women’s championship.

Retiring Clemson coach Larry Penley feels no NCAA Championship pressure: ‘They’re not gonna fire me’

The all-time wins leader in college golf gets one more shot at a second national championship.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — For the first time in his decades-long career at the helm of the Clemson men’s golf team, Larry Penley feels no pressure this week at the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship. And why should he?

In January, Penley announced he would be retiring at the end of the season after a 38-year career coaching his alma mater, one that’s seen him set the all-time college wins record at 83.

“Win, lose or draw they’re not gonna fire me,” said Penley with a laugh on Thursday after a practice round at Grayhawk Golf Club. “I’m just excited about watching some good golf and watching us compete one more time.”

But that one more time almost didn’t happen.

Entering the Kingston Springs Regional as the No. 1 seed, the Tigers had to claw their way to the NCAA Championship, shooting 1 under in the final round to finish T-4 with NC State at 3 under, two shots clear of the cut line.

“It was a lot of relief,” Penley said of the regional. “We did such a good job at the ACC Championship and we did such a good job all spring. I hate to say we were overconfident. We were probably a little ill-prepared and a little overconfident. And we didn’t wake up until it was almost too late.”

The team joked with him, saying “we had it all the way,” but Penley wasn’t as convinced.

“I never felt like that. I didn’t feel very prepared. A lot of that was my fault,” he continued. “I think we felt like we could go there and show up and make it. Teams are too good. The golf course was too good. And it beat us, you know, but hey, we’re here. Wipe the slate clean and let’s see what we can do.”

Noting how the team put themselves in “a horrible situation,” Penley praised his guys for battling instead of hanging their heads.

“I was really proud of that fight and their grit.”

For those unfamiliar with Penley’s career at Clemson, you could call him the Godfather of Tigers golf.

The Collegiate Golf Hall of Famer led Clemson to a national championship in 2003, as well as 25 top-20 seasons. On top of his 83 wins, the Tigers finished in second place 86 times under Penley’s watch.

The 62-year-old Dallas, North Carolina, native is one of just two coaches in any sport in conference history to win ACC Coach of the Year in five different decades (an honor he’s earned nine times). Over the years, Penley’s program has produced 62 All-American selections.

“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,” said Penley. “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.”

The COVID-19 pandemic also pushed Penley in the direction of retirement.

“We couldn’t do anything. Couldn’t go on the road. Couldn’t recruit. Then the ACC stops us in the fall, so we couldn’t even compete in the fall,” explained Penley. “I’ve got currently four grandchildren under the age of six living close to Clemson and another one coming in September, and four of them are boys so I’ve got things to do. And I realized, you know, there’s, there’s more to this life, you’re still young enough to do a lot with them. And that really helped me make my mind up.”

But don’t get it twisted, Penley isn’t giving up golf cold turkey.

“(Now assistant coach and future head coach Jordan Byrd) doesn’t have a volunteer coach. I’ll need to let him set his feet, and then I’m going to enjoy going to practice,” said Penley, noting how he still feels an obligation to the team. “I still love the practice. I like being on the range with the guys. I like watching them get better. I like watching them experiment and practice and try new things and see what works and what doesn’t work. And we’ve got a really good practice facility. And I like spending time down there. So I’m looking forward to doing some of that.”

Outside of still spending time with the team, Penley is most looking forward to spending time with his grandkids and family. Don’t forget about those young grandkids. Someone has to team them to play golf.

“Might as well be me,” he said with a smile.

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Retiring Clemson coach Larry Penley feels no NCAA Championship pressure: ‘They’re not gonna fire me’

The all-time wins leader in college golf gets one more shot at a second national championship.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — For the first time in his decades-long career at the helm of the Clemson men’s golf team, Larry Penley feels no pressure this week at the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship. And why should he?

In January, Penley announced he would be retiring at the end of the season after a 38-year career coaching his alma mater, one that’s seen him set the all-time college wins record at 83.

“Win, lose or draw they’re not gonna fire me,” said Penley with a laugh on Thursday after a practice round at Grayhawk Golf Club. “I’m just excited about watching some good golf and watching us compete one more time.”

But that one more time almost didn’t happen.

Entering the Kingston Springs Regional as the No. 1 seed, the Tigers had to claw their way to the NCAA Championship, shooting 1 under in the final round to finish T-4 with NC State at 3 under, two shots clear of the cut line.

“It was a lot of relief,” Penley said of the regional. “We did such a good job at the ACC Championship and we did such a good job all spring. I hate to say we were overconfident. We were probably a little ill-prepared and a little overconfident. And we didn’t wake up until it was almost too late.”

The team joked with him, saying “we had it all the way,” but Penley wasn’t as convinced.

“I never felt like that. I didn’t feel very prepared. A lot of that was my fault,” he continued. “I think we felt like we could go there and show up and make it. Teams are too good. The golf course was too good. And it beat us, you know, but hey, we’re here. Wipe the slate clean and let’s see what we can do.”

Noting how the team put themselves in “a horrible situation,” Penley praised his guys for battling instead of hanging their heads.

“I was really proud of that fight and their grit.”

For those unfamiliar with Penley’s career at Clemson, you could call him the Godfather of Tigers golf.

The Collegiate Golf Hall of Famer led Clemson to a national championship in 2003, as well as 25 top-20 seasons. On top of his 83 wins, the Tigers finished in second place 86 times under Penley’s watch.

The 62-year-old Dallas, North Carolina, native is one of just two coaches in any sport in conference history to win ACC Coach of the Year in five different decades (an honor he’s earned nine times). Over the years, Penley’s program has produced 62 All-American selections.

“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,” said Penley. “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.”

The COVID-19 pandemic also pushed Penley in the direction of retirement.

“We couldn’t do anything. Couldn’t go on the road. Couldn’t recruit. Then the ACC stops us in the fall, so we couldn’t even compete in the fall,” explained Penley. “I’ve got currently four grandchildren under the age of six living close to Clemson and another one coming in September, and four of them are boys so I’ve got things to do. And I realized, you know, there’s, there’s more to this life, you’re still young enough to do a lot with them. And that really helped me make my mind up.”

But don’t get it twisted, Penley isn’t giving up golf cold turkey.

“(Now assistant coach and future head coach Jordan Byrd) doesn’t have a volunteer coach. I’ll need to let him set his feet, and then I’m going to enjoy going to practice,” said Penley, noting how he still feels an obligation to the team. “I still love the practice. I like being on the range with the guys. I like watching them get better. I like watching them experiment and practice and try new things and see what works and what doesn’t work. And we’ve got a really good practice facility. And I like spending time down there. So I’m looking forward to doing some of that.”

Outside of still spending time with the team, Penley is most looking forward to spending time with his grandkids and family. Don’t forget about those young grandkids. Someone has to team them to play golf.

“Might as well be me,” he said with a smile.

[vertical-gallery id=778105951]