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Tigers' turnaround takes NCAA lead
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Slideshow: Frustration mounting•
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – USC sophomore Jamie Lovemark and Oklahoma State freshman Rickie Fowler held neighboring spots on a nearly empty driving range at Purdue’s Kampen Course early Thursday afternoon, about an hour or so after they both had disappeared, as far this year’s NCAA individual championship is concerned.
Lovemark is at 10 over after rounds of 79-75 and tied for 70th. Fowler (74-77) is only three shots better and tied for 44th.
This comes as a shock.
During the weeks leading up to this NCAA Championship, most figured Lovemark and Fowler would have met up only for the unofficial Player of the Year trophy handoff.
Instead they were watching each other work out kinks, a curious circumstance considering we are talking about two of the nation’s best young talents.
Last year, Lovemark closed out the finals and his freshman year with consecutive 64s to win the individual title and along with it a bucketload of other trophies, including a mini-statue of Jack Nicklaus that is given annually by the Golf Coaches Association of America to college golf’s player of the year. (The award is handed out immediately after the final round of the NCAA Championship.)
A similar finish for Fowler this week, and the award goes home with him.
Well, probably.
Fowler is currently No. 1 in the
Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings. He earned victories this year at the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational and Big 12 Championship. He hadn’t finished worse than 8th place in any tournament until earlier this month at The Maxwell, where he was 13th.
This conversation only began just over a week ago at the Central Regional, where Fowler clawed and scratched his way to a 20th-place finish, signaling a slump of sorts that has come at the worst possible time.
Fowler may have been awarded the GCAA’s Ben Hogan Award last week – which takes into account all collegiate and amateur competitions over the past 12 months – but that doesn’t hide the fact that he hasn’t broken 73 in his last five postseason rounds.
He understands.
“I mean after the Hogan Award, it’s hard not to think about it,” he said.
Of course, this is only good news for UCLA senior Kevin Chappell.
Not that he cares.
“No. Not at all,” said Chappell, who is currently tied for fourth after rounds of 69-73, his second-round score blemished only by a double-bogey on No. 18.
“I don’t even know what my ranking is, to be honest with you,” he said. “I’m sure I’m in the top 5, but I don’t know.”
Chappell is currently No. 3 in the
Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings, but is only percentage points behind Fowler. He won the Ping Arizona Intercollegiate and has finished runner-up three times, including a playoff loss at the Pac-10 Championship. He also tied for eighth at the West Regional – his fifth consecutive top-10 finish – and has his Bruins only one shot out of the lead this week after 36 holes.
“I want my team to win. If you play well and you win and you get some awards, whatever,” said Chappell. “The golf course is too difficult to be focusing on anything else.”
Sitting in between Fowler and Chappell at No. 2 in the rankings is Alabama senior Michael Thompson, who has played the first two rounds in 6 over (76-74), and is following Chappell’s lead at the moment when it comes to personal prizes.
“I’m not even concerned with that,” said Thompson, who won the SEC Championship, but may have taken himself out of the running at the Central Regional, where he finished tied for 65th. “At this point I’m just trying to enjoy my last college tournament. I’ve got to be playing like Billy Horschel is right now to have a chance at that.”
“I’ve played well, but I haven’t done anything really spectacular all year. Maybe if I played well the next couple days and got myself back in the top 10 that would be good.
“You never know, it’s always there.”
The uncertainty is what makes all of this interesting. You want scenarios?
• “Rickie’s played very well this year... it’s going to be tough (to beat him) when you look at the consistency throughout the whole year,” said Florida junior Billy Horschel, currently the individual leader at 5 under.
• “If (Michael) has two good rounds, yes (he has a chance),” said Alabama coach Jay Seawell.
• “If Kevin can play well the next two days and have a shot at winning this, I think there is a real legitimate chance for him to be player of the year,” said UCLA coach Derek Freeman.
• ”It is the NCAA Championship. It is a strong field, but I think people put too much emphasis on this tournament,” said Fowler.
This is campaign season, after all.
Fowler and Thompson both have 2-0 head-to-head records against Chappell this year. But would that really matter if Chappell won this thing, especially with Fowler and Thompson falling so far out of the picture?
We could go round and round on this one. Fortunately, we’re only two rounds away from figuring it out.
Posted: 5/29/2008
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