CARLSBAD, Calif. (May 26, 2024) – The Buccaneers made the cut.
Following Sunday's third round at the NCAA Championship, the tournament field was cut in half and the 19th-ranked ETSU men's golf team advanced right on the number. After shooting a 10-over 298 on Sunday, the Bucs were sitting right at the 15th-place cut line at 27-over-par 891, and were forced to wait for the afternoon wave to complete play Omni La Costa Resort & Spa, North Course.
After a roller-coaster ride where the Bucs moved out and back ahead of the cut line, ETSU did just enough to keep its tournament hopes alive as the Blue & Gold are tied for 14th with familiar foe, Tennessee. Since the tournament moved to the stroke play/match play format in 2009, ETSU has never advanced to this point in the championship. The last time the Bucs made a cut at the NCAA Championship was in 2001 when the cut was made after 36 holes. ETSU finished ninth at the 2001 championship.
The Bucs were forced to wait on Wake Forest and Texas Tech to finish up late on Sunday. Wake Forest, who jumped ahead of ETSU early in its round, finished 16th at 29-over-par 893 and Texas Tech climbed 11 spots before finishing 17th at 31-over-par 895.
ETSU's next goal is to get into the top eight of the team leaders at the end of Monday's final round of stroke play. Florida is currently in eighth-place at 20-over-par 884. At the conclusion of Monday's round, the top eight teams advance to match play, which will begin on Tuesday.
Illinois holds the top spot on the team leaderboard at 2-under-par 862. The Illini fired the lowest round of the day at 6-under 282 to open a six-shot lead over Virginia. Vanderbilt remained in third at 9-over-par 290, while Florida State (4th, +10), Ohio State (5th, +13), North Carolina (T6, +15) and Auburn (T6, +15) round out the top teams inside the top eight.
The Bucs were led by
Remi Chartier on Sunday as he carded a 1-over 73. Chartier collected five birdies, seven pars and six bogeys during his round. The Bucs' other scores came from Matty Dodd-Berry (+2),
Algot Kleen (+3) and
Mats Ege (+4).
For the tournament, Ege is tied for 27th (+4), while Dodd-Berry is tied for 73rd (+9) and Kleen and Chartier are tied for 78th (+10).
Despite not having his score count toward the team total on Sunday,
Jenson Forrester became the first player of the tournament to eagle the par-5, 605-yard No. 18. Overall, there have been just 13 eagles during the championship.
Ohio State's Adam Wallin took over the individual lead at 5-under-par 211. Wallin will take a two-shot lead into Monday over Virginia's Ben James and Stanford's Karl Vilips.
Sunday marked the lowest scoring average of the tournament at 74.93.
The Bucs will tee off on Monday starting at 1:45 p.m. ET, while ETSU will be grouped with Tennessee and Oklahoma.
Fans can follow live scoring at
Golfstat.com. The
Golf Channel will also provide live coverage of Monday's round starting at 6 p.m. ET.
For more information about ETSU men's golf, visit ETSUBucs.com and select men's golf.
