PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – The Greyhounds' historic run at the NCAA DII Men's Golf Championships came to an end Thursday, with the Hounds falling via tiebreaker in the medal/match-play semifinal. UIndy capped an outstanding season with a number of program firsts at Nationals, including earning the team's first No. 1 seed after stroke play, first appearance in the national semifinal, and first-ever individual national championship.
Going toe-to-toe with No. 11-ranked Georgia Southwestern in the afternoon semifinal, the Hounds battled to a 2-2-1 stalemate after the five pairings were completed. The first tiebreaker goes to total strokes of the five-man team, and amazingly that proved a deadlock as well. The separator came with the second tiebreaker, which points to the first comlpeted match as the decider.
"I think it has to change, I'll be honest with you," admitted Head Coach
Brent Nicoson about his feelings on the current tiebreaker structure. "I think this is too important of a tournament to come down to who wins the first match that's on the board. We tied 2-2-1 and the shots were tied; we have to find a better way.
"But that's on us. We didn't get the job done and credit Georgia Southwestern for coming back and getting the tiebreaker. I wish them the best tomorrow."
Freshly-crowned national-champ
Keegan Bronnenberg earned a point for the Hounds while junior
Cam Carroll also won his pairing. Senior
Oliver Mast tied his GSW opponent to earn a half point.
QUARTERFINAL RECAP
In their second quarterfinal appearance in the last three DII national tournaments, the Greyhounds made a late push to win four of the five available points. Though
Cam Carroll was in control pretty much the whole round, three other Hounds surpassed their opponents on hole 15 or later.
Bronnenberg made the most dramatic push, overcoming a five-stroke deficit with three to play.
Oliver Mast also won by a single stroke, while
Erik Edwards snapped a tie through 14 holes and won by two.
The 2021 NCAA DII Men's Golf Championships were held at PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
WEDNESDAY RECAP
Junior
Keegan Bronnenberg made history Wednesday at the NCAA DII Championships, becoming the school's first-ever men's golf individual national champion. The Muncie, Ind., native led the Greyhounds to a 18-stroke win in the 54-hole stroke-play portion of the tournament, securing the No. 1 seed entering tomorrow's medal/match play quarterfinals.
The Hounds will be paired up with eighth-seeded Lee University tomorrow morning, with tee times set to start at 7:30 a.m. ET.
Bronnenberg carded scores of 76-69-75 to finish at +4 – two strokes ahead of second place. As the individual medalist at Division II's marquee event, he bested the previous best finish by a Greyhound of fourth place, attained by Seth Fair in 2010.
The four-way tie for second included standout senior
Erik Edwards (74-73-75). Taking advantage of a fifth year of eligibility granted due to the pandemic, Edwards settled at +6 during stroke play, one stroke ahead of teammate
Ian Carroll (74-73-76) in sixth.
Ian's brother
Cam Carroll also snagged a top-15 spot. Highlighted by a second-round 71, the younger Carroll finished at +13 to share 15th place. Senior
Oliver Mast (80-74-81) tied for 28th among the 84-person field.
TUESDAY RECAP
The UIndy men's golf team made a giant leap Tuesday at the NCAA DII Championships, using a two-under 286 to vault four spot into No. 1 on the team leaderboard. As one of four Greyhounds in the top six, junior
Keegan Bronnenberg carded a second-round 69 to lift him into a tie for first individually.
The Greyhounds have built a healthy 16-stroke lead heading into Wednesday's final round of stroke play. The Hounds are in prime position to snag a top-eight spot after tomorrow to qualify for Thursday's medal/match play quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, the individual national championship will be decided by tomorrow's final stroke-play results, with Bronnenberg making a strong pus in the second round. The Muncie, Ind., native carded 13 pars and four birdies Tuesday on the way to the posting the field's lowest score of the week. He now shares the top spot with Lee University's Oliver Lewis-Perkins at +1.
A pair of Hounds are right on their heels, with
Erik Edwards (74-73) and
Ian Carroll (74-73) tied for third at +3. Junior
Cam Carroll (77-71) put up a red number Tuesday to springboard into a five-way tie for sixth at +4.
Senior
Oliver Mast carded a two-over 74 Tuesday to move up to a tie for 28th.
Wednesday's final group will feature three top-10 teams in Golfstats rankings. No. 10 UIndy will be paired with tip-ranked West Florida and No. 4 Arkansas Tech, with tee times starting at 12:05 p.m. ET.
MONDAY RECAP
The Greyhounds opened play at the 2021 NCAA DII Championships Monday with a 13-over 301, good for fifth place among the 16-team field.
The Hounds were led by the senior tandem of
Erik Edwards and
Ian Carroll, as both carded an opening-round 74 to share 9th place. Carroll easily had the team's best back nine on Monday, coming in with a one-under 35.
Junior
Keegan Bronnenberg sits at +4 in a tie for 27th, followed by junior
Cam Carroll (+5) in 36th and senior
Oliver Mast (+8) in 51st.
Arkansas Tech (+7) tops the team leaderboard, with its first-round 295 good for a four-stroke lead over second-place Georgia Southwestern.
Individually, the duo of Santiago De La Fuente (Arkansas Tech) and Ian Trebilcock (Washburn) pace the field at -1.
