REVIEW
2014 NCAA Semifinalists
Tigers Compete for National Championship in Match Play The LSU Tigers gave themselves an opportunity to win their first national championship in nearly 60 years after firing a team score of 4-under par 836 in 54 holes of medal play at the 2014 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships while earning the No. 3 seed in the eight-team match-play tournament for the title in the event held May 23-28 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kansas. It marked the first time in six seasons of the current format that the Tigers qualified for the eight-team, single-elimination tournament for the national championship dating back to NCAA’s adoption of match play since the 2008-09 season. Sparked by final rounds of 2-under par 70 by junior Ben Taylor and 1-under par 69 by senior Smylie Kaufman, the Tigers capped their third round of strokeplay qualifying with a team score of 1-under par 279 to finish as the runners-up to the No. 3-ranked Stanford Cardinal and in a tie for second place with the No. 1-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide among the 30 teams in medal play. Stanford ran away from the field with a 54-hole score of 13-under par 827 to claim the No. 1 seed in the match play quarterfinals. Alabama earned the No. 2 seed over the Tigers in match play with the second tiebreaker established by the NCAA of highest 54-hole score by one golfer in the lineup after both teams’ non-counting scores over the three rounds totaled 11-over par. LSU broke par in each of its three rounds in stroke play to clinch its first top-10 team finish at the NCAA Championships in 25 years, sandwiching scores of 1-under 279 in the first and third rounds around a 2-under 278 in the second round for a 54-hole score of 4-under par 836. The Tigers last cracked the Top 10 of the final team standings at the NCAA Championships in 1989 when they tied for eighth place nationally. It was the 20th time in the program’s history that the Tigers took home a top-10 team finish at the NCAA Championships, including four national titles claimed in 1940, 1942, 1947 and 1955. Their performance set up a quarterfinal match with No. 21-ranked UCLA as the Bruins nabbed the No. 6 seed thanks to an unbelievable display of putting on their back nine to finish off a round of 1-over 281 in the final round for a score of 4-over 844 for sixth place overall in stroke-play qualifying. No. 1 seed Stanford faced No. 8 seed Illinois after the Fighting Illini tied the SMU Mustangs for seventh place in the team standings at 5-over par 845 after 54 holes. No. 2 seed Alabama battled No. 7 seed SMU, and No. 4 seed Oklahoma State and No. 5 seed Georgia Tech featured in the remaining match after the Cowboys finished at even-par 840 and the Yellow Jackets ended at 1-over par 841. “Our guys are excited. They have worked hard this year, and are excited for the opportunity to play for a national championship,” LSU head coach Chuck Winstead said of his team’s qualification. “The reality of the NCAA Championships is that it is two tournaments here. We played very well in stroke play to put ourselves in this position, and now we’ll go to match play with the mindset to win. The teams we’ve brought here in the past few years have all had it in them to get to this point, but I’m so proud of these guys for believing in themselves and taking that next step up. “These guys are developing into a very good team. We’ll keep playing the type of golf we’ve been working toward, and see if we can’t get a little bit better
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every day. We’re looking forward to it.” After opening the championship with a 1-over 71, Taylor caught fire to finish as the top Tiger in the individual competition as he played his final 36 holes at 5-under par with scores of 3-under 67 and 2-under 68 to tie for sixth place on the final leaderboard at 4-under par 206 for the championship. It was the third time in five years for an LSU Tiger to crack the Top 10 of the final NCAA standing after three-time All-American John Peterson tied for sixth place as a junior in 2010 before being crowned the NCAA Champion as a senior in 2011. Taylor played a nearly flawless final round with three birdies and one bogey on his scorecard. After opening with six-straight pars, he reeled off three birdies over a four-hole stretch around the turn at the par-five seventh, par-four eighth and par-three 10th holes before making his lone bogey of the day at the parfour 13th hole to cap his afternoon with a team-leading 2-under par 68. It was an outstanding individual finish in the NCAA Championship
2021-22 MEN’S GOLF RECORD BOOK
2014 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
FINAL TOP 10 TEAM LEADERBOARD
1. Stanford T2. LSU T2. Alabama 4. Oklahoma State 5. Georgia Tech 6. UCLA T7. SMU T7. Illinois 9. South Carolina 10. Houston
281-267-279 – 827 -13 279-278-279 – 836 -4 274-278-284 – 836 -4 277-279-284 – 840 E 277-282-282 – 841 +1 279-284-281 – 844 +4 275-285-285 – 845 +5 285-280-280 – 845 +5 272-292-282 – 846 +6 284-285-279 – 848 +8
2014 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
FINAL TOP 10 INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD
1. Cameron Wilson, Stanford 2. Ollie Schniederjans, Ga. Tech T3. David Boote, Stanford T3. James Ross, Houston T3. Robby Shelton, Alabama T6. Ben Taylor, LSU T6. Denny McCarthy, Virginia T6. Seth Reeves, Ga. Tech T9. Brian Campbell, Illinois T9. Sebastian Cappelen, Ark. T9. Lorens Chan, UCLA T9. Bryson Dechambeau, SMU T9. Toni Hakula, Texas T9. Ryan Zech, Missouri
71-63-70 – 204 -6 71-65-68 – 204 -6 73-67-65 – 205 -5 70-69-66 – 205 -5 72-65-68 – 205 -5 71-67-68 – 206 -4 65-71-70 – 206 -4 66-72-68 – 206 -4 70-74-63 – 207 -3 68-71-68 – 207 -3 70-70-67 – 207 -3 69-69-69 – 207 -3 72-68-67 – 209 -3 70-69-68 – 207 -3
