Duke women’s golf finishes 14th at NCAA Championship

Duke golfer Phoebe Brinker put together her second top-10 finish at the NCAA Championship to lead the Blue Devils to a 14th-place finish.

The Duke women’s golf team finished 14th at the 2024 NCAA DI Women’s Championship on Monday after the Blue Devils ended the four-day tournament at the Omni La Costa North Course in California with a 32-over team total.

Senior Phoebe Brinker led the way as she finished in a tie for 10th at even-par. The Blue Devil shot a 3-under 69 in the opening round and made 15 birdies for the week, including four during Monday’s final round.

Teeing off on the 10th hole on Monday, she birdied three of her first eight holes to reach 3-under for the tournament. Four bogeys in her next six holes prevented her from competing for a top-five result, but she birdied the seventh to pull back to even for the tournament.

Brinker also finished tied for fifth at the NCAAs back in 2021 as a freshman, and she became the 10th Duke women’s golfer to finish inside of the top 10 at multiple national championship tournaments.

Emma McMyler and Katie Li, who both earned All-ACC nominations for the 2024 season, finished in a tie for 45th and a tie for 70th, respectively.

McMyler stood even-par after two rounds, but a 76-78 finish left her 10-over for the week. After seven birdies in her first two rounds, she made three over the final 36 holes. Li made a par or better on 28 of her closing 36 holes, but a quadruple bogey in the third round and two doubles in the fourth proved too much to overcome.

The high numbers weren’t out of the ordinary at the NCAAs as only nine of the 82 competition individuals finished under par. While he praised Brinker’s finish in a release from the team, Duke head coach Dan Brooks called the North Course one of the hardest the team has ever played.

Anne Chen finished in a tie for 43rd at 9-over, and she and Brinker were the only two Blue Devils to shoot 75 or better in all four rounds. Andie Smith finished in a tie for 72nd at 18-over, and her second-round 72 was tied for the third-best round on the team.

Texas A&M’s Adela Cernousek wins the first NCAA Individual golf title in program history

Adela Cernousek dominated the field to bring home the first Individual National title in the women’s golf program

The Texas A&M women’s tennis team winning their first championship in team history was not the only first in Aggie athletics over the past few days. Aggie women’s golfer Adela Cernousek capped off her impressive individual season by winning the first individual NCAA title in program history on Monday.

She entered the final day with a six-shot lead and an even par to claim the title at the 2024 NCAA Championships held at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa. She shot a 12-under 276 and helped her team to a top-three finish on the day and they will face UCLA in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Head tennis coach Gerrod Chadwell spoke on Cernousek’s historic accomplishment:

“I told Adela that she will always be a national champion and that no one can take that from her, I couldn’t think of a more deserving person. Adela is the epitome of a student-athlete and a hard worker. She is selfless and only cares about the team. She is beyond worthy of this and we can’t wait to get to match play tomorrow.”

Below you can check out the championship moment

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Duke men’s golf learns regional draw for NCAA postseason

The Duke men’s golf team will play in the Baton Rouge Region to start the NCAA postseason

The Duke Blue Devils men’s golf team is headed to an NCAA Regional tournament for the ninth straight year.

On Wednesday, Duke got drawn as the fifth seed in the Baton Rouge Regional, one of six regional competitions in the men’s golf postseason.

LSU will host the region in its home city, but SEC counterpart Auburn, who currently sits atop SCOREBOARD’s Men’s Division I golf rankings, will be the top seed and the presumed favorite for the tournament. Ohio State and Oregon will also compete, as will ACC foes Virginia and Louisville.

The top five teams (along with the top individual from all other teams) will advance to the NCAA Championship at the end of the month in California, and Duke made the cut four times in the past six years.

Duke won one tournament as a team this season, the Rod Myers Invitational at home in Durham back in September, but the Blue Devils finished inside the top six of every team event they competed in.

The three-day tournament begins on May 13.

Spikemark gets spiked; NCAA turns to Clippd for scores, rankings

Clippd bills itself as ‘a technology business founded and staffed by passionate golfers.’

Just five weeks into a new season, the NCAA has officially severed ties with Spikemark for its official scores and rankings.

The NCAA announced Monday that Clippd will take over after a series of false starts and empty promises from Spikemark.

“A leader in the golf technology industry,” according to the NCAA, Clippd will take over from Spikemark “following an agreed handover period.”

Clippd bills itself as “a technology business founded and staffed by passionate golfers” and is already providing stats to more than 100 Div. I, II and III programs.

The NCAA notes that Spikemark approached Clippd for help. Clippd reports its site has been able to publish more than 75 percent of all Div. I college golf tournaments.

In July, the NCAA announced Spikemark Golf would become the provider for all golf scoring and ranking services utilized by the NCAA beginning with the 2023-24 season. Spikemark took over the service role previously provided by Golfstat.

Nine days later, Golfstat responded with a statement saying the company wasnā€™t going away, though its role was going to be reduced.

The 2023-24 season was already underway when Spikemark posted a message on its website, labeling the non-functioning platform as “Ground Under Repair.”

Spikemark was created and founded by former collegiate player and coach Derek Freeman. In the initial release, the company said it would provide tournament scoring, real-time leaderboards, detailed statistics, in-depth analytics and media, allowing fans to keep track of their favorite teams and players. Spikemark would also provide real-time access to team schedules, up-to-date results and the latest rankings.

However, many tournament directors were scrambling because of live-scoring issues in the initial week of competition. Some tournaments switched to Golf Genius or even back to Golfstat. Others kept scores on their own team websites.

In July the NCAA appeared confident in Spikemark’s technology.

ā€œWe are pleased to announce Spikemark as manager for NCAA golf scoring and ranking services,ā€ Joni Comstock, NCAA senior vice president of championships, said in a July 2023 release. ā€œSpikemarkā€™s effective use of current technologies, including the implementation of a transparent ranking system with daily updates, will provide a statistical approach that has been widely adopted throughout the golf community, and one that will positively impact the user experience for our membership and the championships.”

Spikemarkā€™s ranking system was developed in collaboration with Mark Broadie, who is widely known for his development of the Official World Golf Ranking algorithm and the modern statistical approach using ā€œStrokes Gainedā€ statistics. Broadie is also a 20-year member of the USGAā€™s handicap research team.

The NCAA’s release Monday said Broadie, “a pioneer in the world of golf analytics,” will be the ranking authority and is working with the Clippd team to provide individual and team rankings following the conclusion of the fall season.

“We are confident that Clippd will lead us through technology challenges faced during the 2023 fall season and serve as a valuable partner into the future, as well,” said Comstock. “The goal of this partnership is to fully deliver the quality services that our student-athletes and the college golf community deserves.”

ā€“ Golfweek’s Cameron Jourdan contributed to this article.

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UNC men’s golf team honored Saturday at Kenan Stadium

The UNC men’s golf team was honored for its historic 2022 campaign during Saturday’s UNC-App State football matchup.

There’s a lot of dominant athletic programs at UNC ā€“ men’s basketball, field hockey and women’s soccer, to name a few.

You can go ahead and add men’s golf to that list.

The Tar Heels’ 2022 season was their best finish in the NCAA Tournament since 1993 (tied for third). They won individual stroke play in the same tournament, saw five players win regular-season titles and four (David Ford, Ryan Burnett, Austin Greaser, Dylan Menante) capture All-America and All-ACC honors.

For team efforts on the links, UNC was recognized during Saturday night’s football game against App State.

Carolina begins its men’s golf season on Friday, Sept. 15, heading out west to Illinois for the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitation. The highlight of Carolina’s season, however, is when it heads to Scotland next month for the inaugural St. Andrews Links Collegiate Tournament.

UNC has enjoyed past success at St. Andrews, host of the world’s oldest golf tournament (The Open), winning the 2006 International Collegiate Tournament and also playing there in 2002 and 2010.

Between now and then, though, Carolina will play tournaments in Texas and Wilmington, N.C.

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Noah Goldman named men’s golf assistant coach

UNC men’s golf team announces Noah Goldman as the new Assistant coach.

The North Carolina men’s golf team named Noah Goldman the program’s assistant coach.

UNC announced the decision Friday, with Go Heels sending a press release on the staff addition. In the press release, men’s golf coach Andrew DiBitetto talked about the decision to bring Goldman to Chapel Hill.

“Noah is a rising star,” says DiBitetto. “He joins our program from Oregon State, where Jon Reehoorn and the Beaver golf program are widely respected. Noah is relationship-based, communicates well, is incredibly intelligent and very competitive. He’s detail oriented, loves pressure and is committed to getting better each day. Noah had a strong playing career in college and is still a very good player today. During the interview process, I left each conversation more and more impressed. We are excited to learn more about Noah and work with him and welcome Noah, Ashley, Ellie and Mila into our Carolina Golf family.”

The signing should do wonders for the program, which has grown in the last few seasonsā€”especially last year with UNC accounting for the ACC coach of the year DiBitetto and player David Ford.

This upcoming year has much promise, with standout golfer Ford leading the way for the Tar Heels.

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David Ford named first-team All-America

North Carolina Sophomore golfer David Ford snags first-team All-America honors.

North Carolina sophomore golfer [autotag]David Ford[/autotag] has been named to first-team All-America honors.

The announcement came Wednesday morning, with Ford being 1 of 11 golfers selected for such a high honor. Ford was the only Tar Heel to crack the list and joins Georgia Tech’s Christo Lamprecht as one of the two to represent the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The honor acknowledges Ford’s remarkable year and the work he’s put on the green. Ford played a significant role for UNC, helping lead the program to new heights as they tied for third in the NCAA championship.

Ford had a historic season, leading Carolina in scoring at 69.89, the second-lowest average in UNC history. The sophomore also became the first Tar Heel to win ACC Player-of-the-Year honors, penciling his name in the record books.

Ford becomes UNCā€™s eighth first-team All-America, the second under head coach Andrew DiBitetto.

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Tar Heels finish third in NCAA menā€™s golf tournament

The North Carolina men’s golf team finished third in the NCAA tournament after a 3-2 loss to Georgia Tech.

The North Carolina men’s golf team championship hopes came to a screeching end Tuesday after falling short to Georgia Tech 3-2 in the semifinal.

Despite the bitter ending, the Tar Heels made significant strides this season, tying for third in the NCAA championship, marking their best finish since 1993. Led by ACC’s golf coach of the year Andrew DiBitetto, UNC had a remarkable season, winning five team titles in other tournaments.

In a press statement released by the school, DiBitetto reflected on the loss.

“Iā€™m incredibly proud of our guys because they play the game the right way. DiBitetto said. “They have so much grit, so much heart, they never gave up. Even going back to the quarterfinal match this morning, with three, four holes to go, it didn’t look like it was going to go our way. They just hung in there and kept hitting shots and kept marching along and executing. All of a sudden, we come out on top and then the same thing happens in the semifinal. It looked like that match might end pretty early. David Ford starts to flip it on the back nine and ends up winning his match. Peter Fountain was three down with six holes to play and gets it all the way to 18.”

DiBitetto ended the statement by crediting the Yellow Jackets for their performance.

ā€œCredit to a really good Georgia Tech team. Especially Ross Steelman coming down the stretch. I didn’t see it, but I heard he made a clutch 12-footer on 16 and a 20-footer on 17. A big tip of the cap to them. They’re an incredible team.”

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Dylan Menante transfers from Pepperdine to North Carolina

Dylan Menante helped the Waves win the 2021 NCAA championship.

The college golf transfer portal had some more movement Friday as Dylan Menante has left Pepperdine for North Carolina.

Menante helped the Waves to the national championship at the 2021 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship. He was also theĀ West Coast Conference Player of the Year that season.

But after three seasons playing for the southern California school, he’ll finish his college career in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

“I chose UNC because the school and coaches offer a critical balance between golf, growing as a person, academics and top-notch peers to surround my game” Menante said in a release sent by the Tar Heels athletic department. “I am looking forward to joining the Tar Heel program, but I also appreciate the support the Pepperdine community gave me the last three years.”

Menante is ranked 15th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.

In the 2022 NCAA Championship, Pepperdine and North Carolina were among the eight teams to advance to the match-play portion of the event, with Pepperdine eliminating North Carolina to advance. Menante won his quarterfinal match but lost his semifinal match as Pepperdine was eliminated by Arizona State.

“All of us with Carolina Golf are thrilled Dylan chose to be a Tar Heel and is joining our family” UNC head coach Andrew DiBitetto said in a release. “Heā€™s a winner, an All-American, a national champion and most importantly, an incredible young man. He’s one of the best amateurs in the world and immediately makes an already strong team even better. Clarkie (assistant coach Matt Clark), all our guys and I canā€™t wait to interact, compete and work with Dylan. We also look forward to helping him improve on and off the course.”

The Tar Heels return four starters: Ryan Burnett, David Ford, Peter Fountain and Austin Greaser.

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NCAA men’s golf regionals: Oklahoma gets the last laugh in Norman, Arizona’s big week, a pair of No. 9 seeds advance and more from Wednesday’s final rounds

Third-round recaps from all six men’s regionals across the country.

College golfā€™s championship season continued this week with menā€™s Division I regional play at six locations across the country.

Three regions had 13 teams and 10 individuals while the other three had 14 teams and five individuals, with 18 holes of stroke play each day from Monday, May 16 through Wednesday, May 18. The top five teams (30 total) and the low individual not on an advancing team (six total) from each region advance to the NCAA Menā€™s Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, May 27-June 1.

Below youā€™ll find a recap from each regional as play concluded from all six sites.

Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings:Ā Menā€™s teamĀ |Ā Menā€™s individual