Golfweek

Go figure! Following up on a blog from Lance Ringer earlier this week, college men’s golf is certainly taking a number of bizarre turns already this spring.

The week’s most notable:

• Central Florida had not finished better than sixth in any of its first six starts, including a tie for 13th at the Isleworth Collegiate to end the fall and an 11th to start the month at the John Hayt Collegiate Invitational. So what do the Golden Knights do? They go out and win their own event at Rio Pinar on Tuesday. They do it big time, too, shooting 14-under 850 to easily outdistance runner-up Charlotte by 19 strokes.

• Virginia Tech finishes 12th in Puerto Rico but comes right back in its next start, winning at Pinehurst last Sunday. The Hokies finished four shots ahead of Old Dominion.

• Most recently, at the National Invitational Tournament which ended Thursday in Tucson, Ariz., Texas Christian overtook a 13-team field which featured nine teams ranked in the top 50 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings.

Okay, the Horned Frogs were ranked 22nd, but after winning the Prestige last fall, they hardly showed much fire power, especially this spring. TCU started the new ...

ORLANDO, Fla. - Miami-Ohio coach Casey Lubahn may not be racking up frequent flyer miles Wednesday, but he sure is racking up some drive time miles.

When the Rio Pinar Invitational came to a close yesterday, Lubahn dropped his guys off at the Orlando airport, and headed north. To cut down on travel costs and baggage fees, the Red Hawks drove to Orlando for the tournament.

Considering it was the school’s spring break last week the long road trip was acceptable. When the tournament began, however, the team missed school on Monday and Tuesday. Rather than take two days to drive back to school the coach put his players on a flight to get them home in time for Wednesday morning classes.

“Missing two days from school isn’t too bad,” senior Charlie Hendrickson said. “It’s when you start missing multiple days of classes when you really start to get behind.”

Not only are the Hawks saving themselves from an abundance of make-up work, the coach is saving the athletic department quite a bit of money. The team brought seven players to the Sunshine State and flights, along with golf bags and luggage, are quite expensive for golf teams ...

There is not a lot of Monday morning arm–chair quarterbacking going on when it comes to college golf. The decisions by a golf coach are usually made prior to an event and geared toward preparation, with very little Xs and Os. Therefore, you don’t have discussions about a bad play–call, poor use of a timeout or players who should have stayed in the game.

However, this past weekend at the Tiger/Wave Classic played at English Turn Golf & Country Club in New Orleans, there is some discussion about a player being pulled out of the game.

Auburn defeated 22 other teams to win the inaugural event, but it was a disqualification that took place in the second round that is stealing the attention.

One of the top players in the field, Purdue’s Maude-Aimee LeBlanc – ranked No. 6 by Golfweek – was disqualified by her own coach for unsportsmanlike conduct. After 11 holes, Purdue coach Devon Brouse told LeBlanc she was done and to walk into the clubhouse. She was 11–over par at the time.

“This is about disrespecting the course, fellow competitors, her team, her school and the game,” said Brouse, who has been coaching college ...

Earlier this week, Richmond finished 11th at the Pinehurst Invitational; George Mason was 11th at the Seminole; and Kennesaw State placed 11th at the General Hackler.

None of those showings raised any eyebrows within the realm of college golf.

However, there was one such finish that did make some people do a little double take.

That was the 11th-place finish by Oklahoma State in Las Vegas at the Southern Highlands tournament, one that featured all 15 teams being in the top 45 of the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings, including 11 of the top 20.

Still, the Cowboys are the top-ranked team and had finished either first or second in five of their first six starts, with a fifth at the Big Island in Hawaii being the other.

Oklahoma State coach Mike McGraw said he thought it was the worst finish by a team he has ever coached. As far as the Cowboys are concerned in regular-season play, he’s right, and that includes his days as an assistant in Stillwater.

McGraw served as Mike Holder’s assistant from 1998-2004 before taking over as the head coach at the start of the 2005-06 season.

The last time the Cowboys finished 11th in ...

The college golf world right now is certainly in Bizzaro Land!

Nothing should come as a surprise going forward the rest of the year. We have seen what we thought were the very best teams not play like the very best, and the individual standings are quite possibly more wide open than any year in recent memory.

It’s like a fun house with all of those mirrors - I am seeing all kinds of images.

For example (and these are all just from the last week):

• After two rounds at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters, Oklahoma State was in last and no player broke par in the final two rounds.

• Oregon whipped the field at the USC Collegiate and then the next week tied for fourth in Fresno, which is not bad. However, BYU, the team that won the event in a playoff, was ranked outside the top 50.

• Augusta State is ranked No. 3 in the country and could be closing in on the top spot.

• Florida Southern, which failed to advance to the NCAA Division II finals a year ago, wins a Division I tournament - beating a top-30 Division I team in Middle Tennessee.

• One of these names ...

Things weren’t looking so rosy after the fall season for coach Fred Warren and his East Tennessee State team. Oh, sure, the Bucs did tie for third at the Jerry Pate, but that was the highlight. They finished sixth in their own tournament at The Ridges and had a pair of 10ths at Carpet Capital and Isleworth, and a 12th at the Gary Koch.

But it appears Warren has his young guns back on track this spring and is certainly headed in the right direction as the NCAA postseason draws near.

The Bucs opened the spring by winning the Jacksonville Invitational, their first victory since ending the fall of 2008 with a win in Hawaii at the Kauai Cup.

They followed with an eighth-place showing in Puerto Rico against a very strong field. On Monday, ETSU made it victory No. 2 of the spring by winning the General Hackler Invitational in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

ETSU shot 19-over-par 883 and won by three shots over a charging Coastal Carolina team, and finished nine strokes better than Augusta State, No. 3 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings.

The Bucs had all five players finish in the top 50, led by ...

LAS VEGAS – There are two things that make a golf tournament, dare I say, ridiculous: constant, gusting wind and a putting contest. What I mean by this is, when the conditions are extremely windy, anything is possible. The same is true when a tournament is staged on an easy course and it turns into a putting contest.

Windy is the best way to describe the conditions today at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters, where gusts were well over 35 mph. First, I don’t want to take anything away from UNLV’s 7-shot lead after 36 holes, because the Rebels clearly are no joke on the par-72, 7,510-yard Southern Highlands Golf Club layout – they’ve won four of the past five tournaments at Southern Highlands. Those victories came when UNLV was one of the better-ranked teams and also when the Rebels carried just an average ranking compared to the other teams in the field. They have won in cold, snowy conditions and have won when the Vegas heat was turned on. This weekend, UNLV is the sixth-best team in the field, with a No. 14 ranking by Golfweek, and will most likely make it five of the last six ...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – When I got to Southwood Golf Club for Round 2 of the Seminole Intercollegiate, I had to double-check the tee sheet. I could have sworn Georgia was not in the field – and I was right – so you can imagine why two people decked out in UGA gear and walking and talking to the team caught my attention.

Who were the Bulldog fans?

Ben and Martha English, parents of UGA star Harris English.

“I have dozens of kids in this field that I have taught,” said Ben English, a putting and mental coach. “I would have been in Las Vegas, but coach Payne wouldn’t pay my airfare to fly out, so I came to support Trey Jones’ tournament.”

The Englishes live just a few minutes from Tallahassee, in Thomasville, Ga. Even though Ben English may not be following the Dawgs of Georgia, he is following Georgia State and Mercer. After all, those schools are both located in Georgia, so I guess it’s OK?

On another note, Martha English was happy to see me so she could relay a message to my colleague, Wrong Ron Balicki. The Englishes and I were talking about the Match Play preview show ...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Two years ago, it was weather that derailed North Carolina’s travel plans to return home from the Seminole Intercollegiate. This year, it nearly cost them their practice round.

First, here’s what happened two years ago, according to assistant coach Don Hill. When UNC left Tallahassee to return to school, the plane couldn’t land in Raleigh because of lightning and severe weather. “They tried landing us in Greensboro and Charlotte,” Hill said. “We even tried landing in Richmond, but instead it was back to Atlanta, where we rented vans to drive back up.”

Fast forward to what happened on Wednesday. The Tar Heels had a two-and-a-half-hour delay in Raleigh due to weather, and missed their connection from Atlanta to Tallahassee. Since the team brought a total of eight people, it was tough getting a new flight with eight available seats. 

The team even tried flying back to Charlotte to get a connection into Tallahassee, but that wasn’t happening, either.

What the team ended up doing was renting two vans, and driving from Atlanta to Tallahassee, where they got in at 11:30 p.m. “We just didn't think lightning could strike twice,” Hill said ...

I am in favor of anything that promotes college golf.

When I learned today that the Reno-Tahoe Open, a July stop on the PGA Tour, is going to grant the individual winner of the Stanford U.S. Intercollegiate a sponsor exemption, I thought to myself what a great idea. To my knowledge, this is a first.

We have seen the NCAA champion receive exemptions to various events, but none of those was guaranteed.

Of course, this will only make winning the event hosted by Stanford at the Stanford Golf Course in early April mean a little more than just putting a trophy on your desk at home.

Wouldn’t it be great if the people at Augusta National would acknowledge the NCAA champion and give that player a pass down Magnolia Lane? Some have said that will never happen now that the individual portion of the NCAA Championship is only 54 holes.

I still say, Why not?

All of this also makes me recall an idea I have shared with many over the years. With all of the talk about the upcoming NFL Draft and the lottery talk that surrounds the NBA Draft, imagine if the PGA Tour had a ...

• International Final Qualifying (Final round)

Northwestern sophomore Eric Chun qualified for the British Open Thursday at International Final Qualifying in Asia. It was an event of international golf significance, and not just because it involved a Korean native who attends an American college qualifying for a tournament in Scotland (at the Home of Golf, nonetheless) via a tournament in Malaysia.

Chun shot 67-71 to grab the fourth and final spot at Saujana Golf and Country Club in Kuala Lumpur. Seung-yul Noh, an 18-year-old Korean who bettered K.J. Choi to win last week’s Malaysian Open, Malaysia’s Danny Chia and Japan’s Hiroyuki Fujita will join Chun at St. Andrews for this year’s British Open.

“I have never been so nervous in my life and I’m just happy it worked out well,” said Chun, who turned 20 Monday.

Chun’s accomplishment can soothe the nerves of the Asian Amateur’s organizers because it adds credibility to the event, just weeks before Chang-Won Han tees it up at Augusta National as the inaugural Asian Amateur champ.

Chun earned his spot in the Open qualifier by finishing second to Han at the inaugural Asian Amateur. Han shot 73-68 at ...

BOULDER CITY, Nev. – There is a reason the annual get together in early March at Boulder Creek Golf Club is known as the “Bubble Buster Invite.” Simply look at what’s a stake entering the final round. (Note: The Magic Number predicted is 61)

• Ranked 53rd by Golfweek and 55th by Golfstat, Baylor is currently in second place. The Bears can just about lock up its at-large bid with a runner-up finish.

• Nebraska, currently tied for fifth place, can really help its cause. The Cornhuskers, 68th by Golfstat and 67th by Golfweek, are coming off a poor showing at the UCF Challenge and might be able to get a lot of that back if they can make a run up the leaderboard. A good finish can get Nebraska back in the hunt for a postseason bid. A poor showing could seal the deal for an early summer.

• Wisconsin, ranked 52nd by Golfstat and 51st by Golfweek, simply needs to hold steady in ninth place. Sitting in the middle of the pack, any movement in the wrong direction could make things a little uncomfortable in the coming weeks. A good final round would give the Badgers a bit of a cushion ...

In the sports world, early March and bubble talk go together like peanut butter and jelly. It’s simple: the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is right around the corner, and many teams are hoping their bubbles are not popped with just a few games left in the season.

How fitting is it that the UNLV Women’s Spring Invitational – which has come to be known as a bubble-buster event – is played in early March and features a field that generally consists of “teams on the bubble?”

However, this year the bubble has shifted a little farther south in the rankings.

The magic number – which is the expected ranking of the last team to get an at-large bid into NCAA postseason play – will change quite a bit because the number of teams that will now play in regional competition has increased from 63 to 72. Last year, the magic number for the women was 53 and in 2008 it was 52.

This year, the Horizon League has been granted an automatic qualifying spot, which increases the number of conferences from years past with an automatic qualifying spot from 24 to 25. This will take an at-large bid away from the ...

Three words come to mind when thinking about Oregon’s performance at the USC Collegiate Invitational.

Awesome. Unreal. Dominating.

This is what Ducks head coach Casey Martin said: “It was incredible. This was a stacked field, and the guys came out and just smoked them.”

Yeah, Casey, you could say that.

Oregon won this 54-hole tournament by 16 shots over second-place California. Had the Ducks, No. 17 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings, won by just a shot, it would have been considered a great win for Oregon simply because the field was strong. No. 2 Stanford was in attendance, along with five more top-20 teams. Any time a team in a field with this many good teams wins by double digits, it gets the attention of all of college golf.

The Ducks placed three players in the top 5, led by individual winner Eugene Wong. The sophomore posted rounds of 65-69-69 to win by a shot.

We have seen some breakout performances from Martin’s teams. But some of those performances were just shy of the top spot. Last year, the Ducks finished second at the Pac-10 Conference Championship and second at the NCAA West Regional. Two years ago ...

I’ve been getting a kick out of all the fuss and comments concerning Georgia playing – and winning – this week’s Wendy’s Charleston Challenge. In particular, all those who say the Bulldogs competed in the event against smaller programs just so they could pad their won-loss record to ensure postseason eligibility under the .500 rule.

I will agree that Georgia doesn’t have – at least so far – a dominating team like those Bulldogs squads ofthe past 10-12 years. But I’ve known head coach Chris Haack a long time and truly don’t feel that he has the .500 rule first and foremost on his list of what he wants his team to accomplish.

The Bulldogs continue to play one of the strongest schedules in the country. No, they haven’t been a dominant force, but with top-6 finishes at the Brickyard, Isleworth and Puerto Rico, they haven’t been exactly shabby either.

Georgia still is No. 25 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings and the Bulldogs had a 37-27-3 overall record going into the Charleston event, where they won by 20 shots and picked up 14 head-to-head wins.

Haack had two extra competition days among the 24 allotted ...