TALLAHASSEE, Fl. — For the first time in eight years, the Augusta men’s golf team is headed to the NCAA Championship after their fifth place finish in the Tallahassee Region. As a team, the Jaguars were 2-under-par for the day and 3-under-par for the tournament, good enough to hold off Southern California and Louisville for the final spot. Florida State won the team title with Ole Miss and New Mexico rounding out the top three.
Stefan Jacobs and Pieter Rossouw Jr. led the way for Augusta in the third round as Jacobs shot a 4-under-par 68 while Rossouw posted a 1-under-par 71. Bo Blanchard II shot an even-par 72 and finished in eighth place on the individual front, one spot ahead of Jacobs. Rossouw finished in 11th.
TEAM RESULTS
1. Floirda State -29
2. Ole Miss -20
3. New Mexico -14
4. Georgia -7
5. Augusta -3
6. Southern Cal +2
7. Louisville +3
7. San Diego St. +3
9. Notre Dame +7
10. Northwestern +10
11. Michigan St. +13
11. Furman +13
13. Davidson +54
14. Florida A&M +61
The Jaguars once again started on no. 10 and got off to a rough start with three of the four counting scores posting an opening bogey. Jacobs quickly turned things around and made birdie on his second hole of the day. Despite another bogey, he was able to birdie three of the final five holes on his first nine holes. Jacobs then made birdies on no. 4 and no. 6 and had nothing else but pars for his 68.
Similar to Jacobs, Rossouw also bogeyed no. 10, but would make three birdies over the next eight holes to make the turn at 2-under-par. He did record two more bogies, but had a birdie on no. 8 for his final tally of 71.
Blanchard, like the other two, made bogey on no. 10. He then had nine straight pars. HIs only birdie of the day came on no. 2 and then finished with seven straight pars for the even-par round.
The final counting score came from Dean Wilken who shot 75 on Wednesday. Wilken had a single bogey on the back nine. He would bogey no. 1 before registering a birdie on no. 3. He did run into trouble again and had three straight bogies before a birdie on no. 8 to go along with a par to finish the round.
Behn Heyns shot a 79 for the score that did not count towards the team total.
The NCAA Championship will be held May 23-28 at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Ca. Augusta will be one of 30 teams competing as the field will be trimmed to 15 after 54 holes. Following another 18 holes, they will make a cut to the final eight holes who will then be part of match play to determine the NCAA National Champion.
The last time the Jaguars made it to the championship was in 2018 in Stillwater, Ok. Broc Everett won the individual title that championship.