June 4, 2004
Hot Springs, Va. – Chan Wongluekiet shot a final-round 71, and Mike Barbosa added a 72 Friday to help Georgia Tech rally to a fifth-place team finish in the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship at The Homestead Resort.
Friday’s round at the 6,679-yard, par-70 Cascades Course was played in blustery conditions, with intermittent hard rain and gusty winds, and the sixth-ranked Yellow Jackets gave away 12 shots to par in the first six holes. Tech, which teed off on No. 10, made it back to 8-over-par by the turn, then played the outward nine in 2-over-par, led by a 3-under 33 from Barbosa.
By the end of the day, Tech had moved past top-ranked Florida, Washington, Kentucky, Pepperdine and Brigham Young, and finished just three shots out of third place. It was the fourth top-five finish for the Yellow Jackets in the last five years and the fifth in the last seven years.
“It was phenomenal really,” said head coach Bruce Heppler. “The weather never got any better, and they did a nice job of hanging in there. It actually could have been a whole lot better. But these guys played really hard. We had three guys who have never played in a national championship before, and they accounted for themselves well.”
“It could have gotten really out of hand (Friday). We were 12-over through six, then went 2-under from there. That was pretty special, so hopefully they’ll learn from that, keep playing and good things will happen to them.”
Junior Nick Thompson shot 73 Friday and finished in a tie for 17th individually at 4-over-par 284. Wongluekiet tied for 24th place at 287, and Barbosa tied for 36th at 291. Freshman Roberto Castro tied for 44th place at 294 after posting a 74 Friday, and freshman Kevin Larsen finished in 78th place at 308 after carding a 79 in the final round.
The race for the team title came down to two teams by the end of the front nine. California played the outward nine 10 shots better than UCLA, who led by five shots after 54 holes, and pulled ahead of the Bruins at the turn. The Bears, who shot 1-under-poar 279 Friday, wound up winning the national championship by five shots with a 14-over-par total of 1134. UCLA shot a 13-over 293 Friday for a 72-hole total of 1140.
Arizona finished third at 1148, with Texas another shot back at 1149 after a final round 286. Tech shot 290 (10-over-par) Friday and finished at 1151.
Washington and Florida tied for sixth at 1152, and Kentucky, the second-place team after 54 holes, was eighth at 1155. Brigham Young was ninth at 1156, and Pepperdine was 10th at 1160. Georgia State and Georgia tied for 11th at 1161, and Oklahoma State (1164), Texas A&M (1167) and Penn State (1170) rounded out the top 15 teams.
Ryan Moore of UNLV, playing as an individual, posted a 4-under-par 66 for his third sub-par round of the tournament, and won medalist honors with a 13-under-par total of 267. He took the individual title by six shots over Bill Haas of Wake Forest (68-273) and Chris Nallen of Arizona (70-273).
“We’ve got everybody back,” said Heppler, who will welcome back all five players from this NCAA Tournament team next year. “We’ll have a good summer’s worth of work, and we’ll see what happens. I’m real proud of them. We were ranked sixth coming in, and finished fifth, so they did a heck of a job. I don’t know that two months ago we could have done this, but they’ve gotten together as a group. Things bode well for the future.”
107th NCAA MEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP
The Homestead Resort’s Cascades Course – Hot Springs, Va.
Final Results
TEAM STANDINGS
California 279-289-287-279 – 1134 (+14) UCLA 289-283-275-293 – 1140 (+20) Arizona 292-281-283-292 – 1148 (+28) Texas 288-286-289-286 – 1149 (+29) Georgia Tech 289-285-287-290 – 1151 (+31) Florida 285-289-284-294 – 1152 (+32) Washington 289-282-285-296 – 1152 (+32) Kentucky 283-286-283-303 – 1155 (+35) Brigham Young 280-290-291-295 – 1156 (+36) Pepperdine 295-276-289-300 – 1160 (+40) Georgia 285-302-284-290 – 1161 (+41) Georgia State 292-280-297-292 – 1161 (+41) Oklahoma State 292-289-289-294 – 1164 (+44) Texas A&M 291-292-284-300 – 1167 (+47) Penn State 289-291-290-300 – 1170 (+50)
GEORGIA TECH RESULTS
Nick Thompson (T17) 70-73-68-73 – 284 (+4) Chan Wongluekiet (T24) 70-69-77-71 – 287 (+7) Mike Barbosa (T36) 73-74-72-72 – 291 (+11) Roberto Castro (T44) 76-74-70-74 – 294 (+14) Kevin Larsen (78) 82-69-78-79 – 308 (+28)
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Ryan Moore, UNLV 67-70-64-66 – 267 (-13) Bill Haas, Wake Forest 70-68-67-68 – 273 (-7) Chris Nallen, Arizona 69-67-67-70 – 273 (-7) Michael Putnam, Pepperdine 74-65-67-70 – 276 (-4) Travis Johnson, UCLA 68-68-68-72 – 277 (-3) John Holmes, Kentucky 71-69-67-72 – 279 (-1) Mark Leon, Penn State 69-69-70-71 – 279 (-1)
