Week 2 Recap:
The second week of tournaments saw some of the strangest playing conditions of the year, with the Southeast Region having brutal pins and closely cut greens making the course close to unplayable. Rumor has it South Carolina had two kids 6-putt a hole. South Carolina come out victorious over the reigning NIT champions #22 Clemson.
The Ozark region saw an "underdog" in Oklahoma come in and throw up a good team score to win in a solid region over #23 Arkansas, #24 Oklahoma State, and Tulsa and who has received top 25 love from presidents.
The Pacific Region saw a shocking winner; California–Berkley was able to squeak by a team that was the favorite to come out of that region for the National Championship (Cal Poly). Cal Poly had an off week according to President Brandon Bone, but still managed to only lose by 4, and showed strength shooting 777.
In the South Flordia Region, Keiser University edged out UCF, and in the Southwest, The University of Southern California was able to pull out the win.
No tournaments took place the weekends of 3/10 and 3/17 due to spring break
Presidents Poll Top 25 - Week 4
1 Arizona State (20)
2 Florida (4)
3 Grand Canyon
4 Baylor (1)
5 Texas
6 Florida State
7 Alabama
8 Virginia Tech
9 Oregon
10 Minnesota – Twin Cities
11 Villanova
12 Georgia
13 Virginia
14 Golf Academy of America - Dallas
T15 Wisconsin - Madison
T15 Auburn
17 Michigan
18 Liberty
19 Indiana
20 California Polytechnic – San Luis Obispo
21 Mizzou
22 Clemson
23 Arkansas
24 Oklahoma State
25 Texas Christian
Others receiving votes:
Providence (51) Illinois (48) Southern Methodist (47) Delaware (44) Oklahoma (43) Arizona (36) Ohio State (19) Pittsburgh (18) Abilene Christian (17) GAA – Chandler (16) Maryland (16) Texas Tech (15) Boston College (15) Wisconsin - Stout (12) South Carolina (11) New Hampshire (9) University of Central Florida (9) Tulsa (8) James Madison (8) Michigan St (6) Bradley (3) Nebraska (3) Yale (2) Niagra (1) VMI (1) Tennessee (1) Xavier (1)
Biggest Movers:
UP:
Texas Christian Was NR, now #25
Down:
California Polytechnic – San Luis Obispo: Down 4 from #16 to #20
Widest Range in Ballots:
Baylor: High #1 from Navy, Low NR from Alabama
Narrowest Range in Ballots:
Arizona State: High #1 (19 ballots), Low #3 from Navy
Voter Insight:
Luke Stull (Michigan)
Q: Why should people not sleep on Michigan?
A: Michigan has an extremely deep roster and a history of outperforming their ranking at nationals. Each of the last six regional medalists have come from our lineup (four different golfers). That sort of depth is unusual to say the least. This team also brings a good mix of fresh faces and experience (sometimes tons of experience) which will allow us to compete this semester and into the future. Look for Midwest leaderboards to be packed with Michigan players at the top.
Q: Who is another potential breakout team?
A: We are looking for a breakout season from the Xavier Musketeers as they will hopefully be putting some fresh faces on the lineup card. New sophomore Elizabeth Stull has All-NCCGA potential and tons of winning experience. She has the game to turn a middling team in the Ohio Valley into a regional contender.
[Stull has Xavier at #25 in his poll, and Michigan at #4]
Noah Beatty (Alabama)
Q: Why did Georgia drop from your poll?
A: I heard a rumor on Golf WRX that UGA lost by 30 in a scrimmage with the Athens Middle school golf team. If true, that certainly doesn’t breed confidence. Best-case scenario for this rebuilding year for UGA is a top 30 finish at the Invitational. Not a top 25 team.
Adam Gracik (DePaul)
Q: Why should Illinois deserve a top 10 vote?
A: Last semester, Illinois averaged 376 per round in their first semester as a team, on some pretty legit courses. Unfortunately, they were only able to bring two of their top eight to Las Vegas. Which is part of the reason they had a poor finish. I’ve only talked to their president (Mike Braverman) once this winter, but it sounds like they will be ready to go again this semester.
Q: Why do you, among a few others, not have TCU ranked when they have a differential of 20.75?
A: Why would I? They finished in fifth place in the first regional... ranking more than 2-3 teams from a region in top 25 is probably the wrong way to go about it and biased. There’s a ton of great teams in the northern and eastern states that deserve to be ranked before I fill up 20% percent of my poll with Texas teams.
[Gracik has Illinois at #10]
Regional Stats
Texas Region: 4 Teams [#4 Baylor, #5 Texas, #14 GAA – Dallas, # 25 TCU]
South Region: 3 Teams [#7 Alabama, #12 Georgia, #16 Auburn]
Colonial Region: 3 Teams [#8 Virginia Tech, #13 Virginia, #18 Liberty]
Desert Region: 2 Teams [#1 ASU, #3 GCU]
North Florida: 2 Teams [#2 Florida, #6 Florida State]
Ozark Region: 2 Teams [#23 Arkansas, #24 Oklahoma State]
Regions with 1 team: Midwest, Philidelphia, Indiana, Twin Cities, North, Northwest, Pacific, Southeast, Central
Participants: Baylor, ASU, Nebraska, Texas Tech, Niagra, Abilene Christian, Michigan, GAA – Dallas, Creighton, UW – Stout, Virginia Tech, Alabama, Liberty, Maryland, GCU, Indiana, Florida, Navy, Michigan State, Georgia, Cal Ploy SLO, Minnesota, Texas, DePaul
Any suggestions or questions can be sent to teddy_rettinger@baylor.edu or DM @canesfan369 on twitter.
