Tag: Team of the Week

College Performers of the Week powered by Rapsodo: San Jose State women’s golf

The Spartans authored a statement win in upsetting top-ranked and undefeated Stanford at the Lamkin Invitational.

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If ever there were a statement win in women’s college golf, then San Jose State’s victory over top-ranked and undefeated Stanford at the Lamkin Invitational qualifies. In cool and windy conditions for the final round at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, California, the Spartans outscored every other team in the field by at least six shots and ultimately overtook Stanford for a meaningful victory to start the spring.

Up to that point, Stanford had won four of four starts. San Jose State rose to No. 7 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings after the victory.

San José State entered the final round tied for second place with Arizona State, three shots behind Stanford. The Spartans finished their second round on Tuesday morning before playing the final 18 holes that afternoon. A 9-over team total for 54 holes left them three ahead of Stanford with Arizona State another eight shots behind that.

As a team, San Jose State notched three runner-up finishes in the fall. But before the Lamkin title, the Spartans hadn’t won a team title since the 2018-19 season when they won two tournaments – the Minnesota Invitational and The Gold Rush. That season ended with San Jose State advancing to the NCAA Women’s Championship in Arkansas.

In a particularly fun twist, San Jose State and Stanford will meet again in a head-to-head match-up on Feb. 24 at CordeValle, which hosted the 2016 U.S. Women’s Open.

Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings: Women’s team | Women’s individual
College golf blog: The Road to Grayhawk

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College Performers of the Week powered by Rapsodo: Wake Forest women’s golf

Wake Forest played 54 holes at the UCF Challenge in 45 under par and won the team title by an overwhelming 14 shots.

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A pair of Wake Forest players combined to go 31 under at the spring-opening UCF Challenge, carrying their team to a 45-under total and a 14-shot victory to start the second half of the season.

Individual champion Carolina Chacarra (19 under) and third-place finisher Rachel Kuehn (12 under) led a strong charge at Eagle Creek Golf Club in Orlando, Florida, helping Wake Forest to the second-lowest 54-hole team score in relation to par in NCAA history. Chacarra also won the individual title.

“What an incredible tournament,” head coach Kim Lewellen said in a release. “To have Carolina finish with two school records as a freshman and the team to come within one stroke of the NCAA record is amazing. This team works so hard and always comes together as a unit to support and encourage one another.”

The UCF Challenge was Wake Forest’s third team title in five starts so far this season. The team, ranked ninth by Golfweek, also won the Bryan National Collegiate and the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invite.

Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings: Women’s team | Women’s individual
College golf blog: The Road to Grayhawk

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College Performers of the Week powered by Rapsodo: Florida men’s golf

A pair of in-state victories to start the spring, including a big one at home, suggest Florida might have turned around its season.

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A pair of in-state victories to start the spring suggest Florida might have turned around its season. After winning the season-opening Sea Best Invitational on Feb. 1, Florida claimed its second consecutive victory on Feb. 13 at its own Vystar Gators Invitational. The Gators have now won their home event 28 times in its 45-year history. This year, it was especially significant as Florida, ranked No. 29 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings, finished 12 shots ahead of No. 4-ranked Oklahoma State.

Florida finished 54 holes at its own Mark Bostick Golf Course with a 28-under total.

“The fall was really frustrating because I knew how good this team was when we started the year and we just played terribly and it made no sense to me and I was starting to think maybe I’m crazy, and I don’t know what good golf looks like anymore,” Florida head coach J.C. Deacon said in a school release. “But I knew we had a really good team. They love this place. We play a lot of golf here. It’s our home. We’re really proud of it. And the guys stepped up this week is really important to them to protect home turf, and there was some really good teams this week does a quality field and a great Oklahoma State team we played with the last three days so wasn’t easy, but they play great and they deserve this.”

Florida was T-8 at the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational to start the fall at 12th at the Colonial Collegiate. They were T5 at the Isleworth Collegiate.

Redshirt junior Fred Biondi led Florida with a 14-under total for 54 holes that left him with the individual title for the first time in his college career. Junior Ricky Castillo, who won the individual title at this event in 2020, was second, four shots behind Biondi.

Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings: Men’s team | Men’s individual
College golf blog: The Road to Grayhawk

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College Performers of the Week powered by Rapsodo: Oklahoma State men’s golf

Oklahoma State men’s golf have been named one of the College Performers of the Week powered by Rapsodo.

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Oklahoma State went to Hawaii to start the spring season this week and will fly home to the Midwest with a trophy – the team’s second this season and a ninth piece of hardware for the Cowboys in the history of the Amer Ari Invitational.

Playing at Hapuna Golf Course in Kamuela, Hawaii, Oklahoma State went 50 under to edge Texas Tech by one shot. The Cowboys’ final-round 24-under 264 was at least eight shots better than any other team on the closing day and helped solidify the team victory. That round also matched the program 18-hole scoring record.

It effectively erased the 10-shot deficit with which Oklahoma had started the day and lengthened a long history of success in Hawaii.

Oklahoma State also won the fall-opening Carmel Cup at Pebble Beach in September and is ranked fifth in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings.

Individually, Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra went 19 under – which included a 10-under closing round of 62 – to win the individual title by two shots over Texas Tech’s Baard Skogen.

Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings: Men’s team | Men’s individual
College golf blog: The Road to Grayhawk

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College Performers of the Week powered by Rapsodo: Northwestern women’s golf

The Northwestern Wildcats have been named one of the College Performers of the Week powered by Rapsodo.

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Big 10 Match Play has long been an early-spring staple for men’s golf teams in the conference, but as a women’s version debuted this year at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida, Northwestern logged three head-to-head victories to take the inaugural title.

The Wildcats’ three match-play wins came against Penn State in the quarterfinals, Ohio State in the semifinals and Purdue in the title match. The format pitted six players from each team against each other in each round, and Northwestern won the final match by a 4-2-0 margin with Kelly Sim, Jennifer Cai, Jieni Li and Lauryn Nguyen all picking up a point.

Senior Kelly Sim was the only Wildcat to go undefeated for the week. This is the first title this season for Northwestern, ranked 49th by Golfweek.

Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings: Women’s team | Women’s individual
College golf blog: The Road to Grayhawk

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Josh Allen named to PFF’s All-Week 6 team

Josh Allen only has 2.5 sacks on the season, but his play against the Dolphins earned him recognition from Pro Football Focus.

Jacksonville’s defense has been a major liability to this point in the season, and a major reason for that (beyond personnel issues in the secondary) is the fact that the team hasn’t done a very good job of bringing down the opposing quarterback. Even when it’s generating some pressure, the defensive front hasn’t been able to produce sacks with the team netting just eight so far on the season.

The best pass rusher on the roster, third-year edge rusher Josh Allen, only accounts for 2.5 of those sacks, despite the fact that he is creating a lot of pressure and has been solid against the run. He’s been the team’s highest-graded player, per Pro Football Focus, the last two games, and his effort in Jacksonville’s Week 6 win over Miami was enough to earn him a spot on PFF’s team of the week, alongside Dallas Cowboys edge rusher Randy Gregory, who was named the Defensive Player of the Week.

Allen is not having nearly as productive a season as many would have hoped after a sophomore slump in 2020, but the stat sheet doesn’t tell the whole story, and Allen is making a contribution in forcing quarterbacks to make quick decisions. If he continues to play at this level, the production will eventually come.

Here’s the full team of the week from PFF.

Offense

QB: Carson Wentz, Indianapolis Colts
RB: Aaron Jones, Green Bay Packers
WR: CeeDee Lamb, Dallas Cowboys
WR: Odell Beckham Jr., Cleveland Browns
TE: Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens
Flex: Jakobi Meyers, New England Patriots
LT: Jason Peters, Chicago Bears
LG: Quinton Spain, Cincinnati Bengals
C: David Andrews, New England Patriots
RG: Zack Martin, Dallas Cowboys
RT: Cornelius Lucas, Washington Football Team

Defense

DI: Armon Watts, Minnesota Vikings
DI: Cameron Heyward, Pittsburgh Steelers
Edge: Randy Gregory, Dallas Cowboys
Edge: Josh Allen, Jacksonville Jaguars
LB: Darius Leonard, Indianapolis Colts
LB: Derrick Barnes, Detroit Lions
CB: Bashaud Breeland, Minnesota Vikings
CB: Chidobe Awuzie, Cincinnati Bengals
S: Taylor Rapp, Los Angeles Rams
S: Derwin James, Los Angeles Chargers
Flex: Amani Hooker, Tennessee Titans

Women’s college golf team of the week: Southern California

USC won the Pac-12 title wire-to-wire for the second consecutive time and claimed their fifth league title in the past 10 championships.

A year has passed since the last Pac-12 Women’s Golf Championship (a year has passed since any women’s golf conference championship), but USC still defended its 2019 league title. The Trojans won the league title wire-to-wire for the second consecutive time and claimed their fifth Pac-12 title in the past 10 championships.

USC’s conference-championship win also marks its fifth team title this season, after not competing in the fall along with the rest of the conference.

Amelia Garvey, runner-up at 5 under, was USC’s highest individual finisher at Stanford Golf Course. Three teammates were inside the top 15. USC went 3 under as a team, which was five shots better than host Stanford.

“I’m so happy for this group to be rewarded with a Pac-12 Championship,” USC head coach Justin Silverstein said in a school release. “This golf course provided an extremely tough and intense test and we were able to survive by playing really smart and disciplined golf.”

Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings: Women’s team | Women’s individual
College golf blog: The Road to Grayhawk

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Men’s college golf team of the week: TCU Horned Frogs

The TCU men won the Thunderbird Collegiate, which boasted a field that included eight of the nation’s top 32 teams, by four strokes.

The Horned Frogs are getting hot at the right time.

The TCU men finished runner-up earlier this month at the Wyoming Cowboy Classic and followed that performance with a win at the Thunderbird Collegiate to earn team of the week honors. The No. 43-ranked team in the nation outdueled a field that featured eight of the nation’s top-32 teams to win their final event of the regular season.

The Horned Frogs shot 4 under as a team in the final round to win at Papago Golf Course in Phoenix, Arizona, by four strokes over hosts Arizona State, who shot 11 under in the final round.

TCU will tee it up next at the Big 12 Championship, held April 26-28 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kansas.

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

College golf blog: The Road to Grayhawk

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Men’s college golf team of the week: Oklahoma Sooners

The Oklahoma Sooners reminded us all why they’re the top-ranked team in the nation two times over the last week.

They’re No. 1 for a reason, folks.

Oklahoma reminded us all why they’re the top-ranked team in the Golfweek/Sagarin men’s team collegiate ranking twice over the last week.

The Sooners first ran away with a win at the inaugural Calusa Cup, shooting 6 under as a squad in the final round to finish as the lone team under par thanks to three players finishing inside the top 10 on the individual leaderboard, led by runner-up Logan McAllister. Jonathan Brightwell finished T-5 at 1 under, followed by Quade Cummins at even-par, T-9.

A few days later at the Aggie Invitational, Oklahoma finished tied with hosts Texas A&M after 54 holes, but lost in a playoff. Garett Reband finished even in fifth place, with Quade Cummins T-6 at 1 over.

Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings: Men’s team | Men’s individual
College golf blog: The Road to Grayhawk

“Our guys hung in there all day,” head coach Ryan Hybl said. “We didn’t execute enough good shots at the end of the day to win. I’m glad we had the opportunity for a playoff, even though it didn’t work out for us. It was a valuable experience for sure, and this has been a really nice two-tournament stretch.”

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Women’s college golf team of the week: College of Charleston

College of Charleston’s women scored a major victory at the Briar’s Creek Invitational.

When the 2019-20 college golf season was canceled last March, College of Charleston was playing a practice round at the Golf Club at Briar’s Creek in Johns Island, South Carolina. A year later, the team claimed the victory there, winning the Briar’s Creek Invitational by one shot of Miami, a top-20 team in the nation, when graduate senior Victoria Huskey sank a birdie putt on her final hole.

The Cougars finished 54 holes at 9-over 873 on March 16 and topped several Power 5 teams, including Maryland, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina, Minnesota and Illinois. It was head coach Jamie Futtrell’s 31st career win, which ties for 13th all-time among active Division I coaches.

Before winning at Briar’s Creek, the Cougars had finished runner-up at the Kiawah Island Classic.

“Last year, COVID made us stop (our spring season) here,” said Futrell. “To come back, and win this golf tournament a year later, is just unbelievable for us. We beat a lot of great teams. This is the biggest win we’ve ever had in the history of our program. Briar’s Creek is also such a special place. To do it in front of our sponsors and friends, it couldn’t be a better place to win.”

Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings: Women’s team | Women’s individual
College golf blog: The Road to Grayhawk

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