RALEIGH, N.C. – The Augusta University men’s golf team shot its lowest score in a regional with a round-three 270 on Wednesday at the NCAA Raleigh Regional. The Jaguars ascended the leaderboard with their best round in a regional ever and finished in fourth place at Lonnie Poole Golf Course to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
Augusta returns to the NCAA finals for the first time since 2011 when they won their second-straight national championship. The 2018 NCAA Championships will be held at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla. The last time Augusta played at Karsten Creek, they walked away with the championship title.
“What a day,” O’Keefe said. “We had to clutch up on the last day and we sure did. We had 16 birdies on the back nine alone. My hat is off to the guys in a total team effort. We’re excited to obviously be going back to Stillwater. 2011 is the last time they hosted the national championship and we’re going to try and use those vibes and the vibes from today to carry forward and see what we can do.”
After missing the cut by one spot on the leaderboard in 2016 and 2017, the Jaguars shot 14-under-par in the final round and outlasted No. 21 Arizona State by climbing four spots in the last day.
Senior Broc Everett shot 67 (-4), and back-to-back 66s (-5) in the final regional tournament of his career to finish with a 199 for the week – tying the school record for the low 54 hole total. His round two and three 66 was one stroke shy of his career best. He posted 17 birdies on the week and remained towards the top of the leaderboard the entire tournament to lead Augusta and take second overall. Everett’s second-place showing is the second-best finish at a regional in school history.
Freshman Laken Hinton matched his career-low round of 68 (-3) in the final day and took a tie for 32nd overall at 1-under-par. Freshman Alex Shead and sophomore Gustav Andersson each tied for 40th, after Shead shot a 71 (E) and Andersson a 70 (-1). AU freshman Olof Gunnarsson bested his previous career-low score by four strokes and shot a 66 (-5) in the deciding 18 holes to take 59th overall.
No. 16 Texas held on to its big lead and won at 39-under-par, while No. 28 Duke took second (-22), NC State third (-21), Augusta fourth (-20), and No. 21 Arizona State fifth (-18). Texas’ Doug Ghim won the individual title at 17-under-par. The low five teams and the low individual not on those teams from each of the six regionals meet for the NCAA Championships May 25-30.
AUGUSTA @ NCAA RALEIGH REGIONAL (Final Scores)
| 4 | Augusta | 278 | 284 | 270 | 832 |
| 2 | Broc Everett (1) | 67 | 66 | 66 | 199 |
| T32 | Laken Hinton (3) | 70 | 74 | 68 | 212 |
| T40 | Alex Shead (2) | 71 | 71 | 71 | 213 |
| T40 | Gustav Andersson (4) | 70 | 73 | 70 | 213 |
| T59 | Olof Gunnarsson (5) | 74 | 79 | 66 | 219 |