INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA Division II Men's Golf Committee has officially announced the complete field of 108 participants that will compete in the 2014 NCAA D-II Men's Golf Championships on May 19-23 at the Meadows Golf Club in Allendale, Mich. The championship event will be hosted for the eighth time at the Meadows by Grand Valley State University.
Among the 108 participants for this year's D-II National Championship are 20 teams and eight individuals from the four super regional tournaments that were concluded on Wednesday. Among the eight individuals going to Allendale is Florida Southern senior Tim Crouch as the defending NCAA National Champion earned a spot in the field as an individual after taking home first place honors at the South/Southeast Super Regional held at Savannah Quarters Country Club in Pooler, Ga. At the South/Southeast Super Regional, Crouch carded a six-under par 210 for 54 holes to finish one shot in front of Saint Leo's Ryan Gendron, who earned the second individual qualifier spot to nationals from the super regional. Gendron shot a two-under 70 in the final round and finished with a 54 hole total of 211.
While Crouch qualified for nationals as an individual, the Moccasins' team fell short of being one of the seven teams from the South/Southeast Super Regional to earn a spot in the team competition at nationals as the Mocs finished in 12th place at the super regional after firing a 3-day, 54-hole total score of 897. The Mocs fired an 11-over par 299 in Wednesday's final round.
The teams going to nationals from the South/Southeast Super Regional were region champion and defending D-II National Champion Barry, Nova Southeastern, USC-Aiken, Armstrong Atlantic, Lynn, Delta State and North Alabama. Three of the seven schools representing the South/Southeast Super Regional are from the Sunshine State Conference. In addition, 13 of the Top 25 teams in the most recent Golf World/Nike Golf Division II Coaches' Poll advanced to the national championships, including eight of the teams ranked in the Top 10 of the poll that was released on May 1.
The nationally ranked teams competing in Allendale are No. 1 Barry, No. 2 USC-Aiken, No. 3 Cal State-Monterey Bay, who was fourth at the South Central/West Super Regional, No. 4 Lynn, No. 5 Chico State, who was tied for second at the South/Southeast Super Regional, No. 6 Nova Southeastern, No. 7 Central Missouri, who was runner-up at the Central/Midwest Super Regional, No. 8 Armstrong Atlantic, No. 9 Western New Mexico, who was fifth at the South Central/West Super Regional and No. 11 North Alabama. Other teams ranked include No. 14 Malone, who won the Central/Midwest Super Regional, No. 18 St. Edward's, who won the South Central/West Super Regional and Hawai'i-Hilo, who was tied for second at South Central/West Super Regional.
The teams and eight individuals will play three days (54 holes) of stroke play beginning on Monday, May 19. Following the 54 holes of stroke play on Wednesday, May 21, an individual champion will be declared, along with finishers 2-10. The top eight teams after 54 holes of play will then be placed into a bracket for match play and seeded based on their 54 hole scores at the championship. Each team in match play will play stroke play for 18 holes and the team with the lowest score wins. Each team match will consist of five points with one point being awarded for each individual match. The four winning teams in the quarterfinals, which is scheduled for Thursday, May 22, will advance to the semifinals and those two semifinal winners, which is scheduled for May 22, will play in a championship final on Friday, May 23. All of the matches will be played to completion and the first team to win three points within the team match will advance, or in the case of the final match, be declared the national champion.
Crouch will be paired in the first two rounds of stroke play the other individual qualifiers as they will tee off in the first round from either the No. 1 tee beginning at 12:50 p.m. or the No. 10 tee beginning at 12:55 p.m. In the second round on Tuesday, May 20, the eight individual qualifiers will either tee from the No. 1 tee beginning at 8:20 a.m. or the No. 10 tee beginning at 8:25 a.m. On the final day of stroke play, the individuals will be repositioned according to score following the second round and individuals in spots 6-8 will tee off beginning at 8:25 a.m. from the No. 10 tee, while the top five individuals (1-5) will tee off from No. 1 tee at 11:50 a.m.
The Mocs are sending an individual to nationals for just the second time since the 2009 season when Brian Richey qualified as an individual and finished tied for 20th after shooting a 13-over 297 for 72 holes at the Loomis Trail Golf Club in Blaine, Wash. FSC, who has won an NCAA Division II record 12 national titles, is looking to have an individual win the national championship for a record eighth time as Crouch took home to individual national title at last season's National Championships after winning in a two-hole sudden death playoff over two players. At last season's national championship, Crouch shot a 54 hole total of 211 to become the seventh Moccasin men's golfer in school history to claim an individual national championship. In addition, he is also seeking to become the first men's golfer to win back-to-back individual national championships since Valdosta State's Briny Baird won titles in both 1994 and 1995. In addition to Baird, two other Division II golfers have won multiple individual national titles as Cal State-Chico's J.J. Jakovac claimed individual titles in both 2002 and 2004 and Tampa's Jeff Leonard was the first D-II golfer to win back-to-back titles as he claimed the championship in both 1987 and 1988.
Since becoming the Mocs coach in 1995, Doug Gordin has led the Mocs to 12 appearances in the NCAA D-II National Championships and has won five national titles, finished as national runner-up one time and third two times.
Last season, Barry defeated Lynn in medal-match play by a fewest stroke tiebreaker to claim its second-ever Division II National Championship, while Crouch shot a two-under 211 to claim the individual title. The 2013 championships here held at the Hershey Country Club in Hershey, Pa., and hosted by Millersville University.
Listed below are the teams and individuals that have advanced to the 2014 NCAA D-II National Championships:
Atlantic/East Regional
Edgewood Country Club; Charleston, W.Va.; hosted by the Mountain East Conference and the University of Charleston
Teams:
1. Indiana (Pa.)
2. St. Thomas Aquinas
3. Charleston (W.Va.)
Individuals:
1. Louis Knight, Adelphi
2. Kurt Brey, Dowling
Central/Midwest Regional
Fox Run Golf Club; Eureka, Mo.; hosted by University of Missouri-St. Louis
Teams:
1. Malone
2. Central Missouri
3. Saginaw Valley State
4. Central Oklahoma
Individuals:
1. Michael Colgate, Nebraska-Kearney
2. Marcos Sevilla, Southeastern Oklahoma State
South/Southeast Regional
Savannah Quarters; Pooler, Ga.; hosted by Armstrong Atlantic State University
Teams:
1. Barry
2. Nova Southeastern
3. USC-Aiken
3. Armstrong AtlanticÂÂ
5. Lynn
6. Delta State
6. North Alabama
Individuals:
1. Tim Crouch, Florida Southern
2. Ryan Gendron, Saint Leo
South Central/West Regional
Grey Rock Golf Club; Austin, Texas; hosted by St. Edward's University
Teams:
1. St. Edward's
2. Cal State-Chico
3. Hawai'i-Hilo
4. Cal State-Monterey Bay
5. Western New Mexico
6. Simon Fraser
Individuals:
1. Derek Oland, Midwestern State
2. Colin Prater, Colorado Mesa
