Saint Leo, the Florida-based team that set a 54-hole record in the stroke-play-only portion of the Men’s NCAA Division II Finals — by 10 shots — had the ultimate nail-biter to advance to the finals of the medal-match play part of the championship at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in northeast Denver.
In Friday afternoon’s semifinals, Saint Leo and fellow Florida school Lynn University finished regulation play with each team winning two matches and halving another. The tiebreaker in such an event is total number of strokes for the teams, and Saint Leo prevailed — by a single shot. The Lions posted an even-par 360 total, while Lynn had 361.
That keeps Saint Leo in the running for its first NCAA DII men’s golf title.
In Saturday morning’s title match at GVR, the Lions will face Chico State (Calif.) in a battle of the top two ranked teams in Division II. (Chico State came in No. 1, according to Golfstat.) Chico State defeated third-seeded Florida Southern in the other semi, 4-1.
The Chico State-Saint Leo match will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday at GVR.
After Saint Leo and Lynn split their first four individual matches Friday, the Lions trailed through 15 holes of the fifth and deciding match. But SLU’s Ryan Gendron squared things up with a par (vs. a bogey) on No. 16, then put himself (and Saint Leo) ahead with another stroke-gaining par on 17. But Lynn’s Jose Andres Miranda prevailed by one stroke on the 18th hole with a par to see the team match finish 2-2-1. But, by the narrowest of margins, Saint Leo prevailed in the tiebreaker.
Saint Leo earlier beat Wilmington 3-2 in the quarterfinals. Winning both their quarterfinal and semifinal matches Friday for the Lions was Joey Savoie. NCAA individual champion Hugo Bernard of Saint Leo halved with Wilmington’s Ryan Rucinski at 2-under 70 in the quarters, then beat Lynn’s Elliott Whitley 69-74 in the semis.
Winning both their quarterfinal and semifinal matches for Chico State were Lee Gearhart, Matt Hutchins and Alistair Docherty.
In all six matches on Friday, the higher-seeded team prevailed. In the quarterfinals, Saint Leo defeated Wilmington 3-0-2, Lynn beat Barry 3-2, Chico State overcame West Florida 3-1-1, and Florida Southern took down California Baptist 3-2.
While Saint Leo has never won a DII men’s golf national title, Chico State has one to its credit, but that came 50 years ago, in 1966.
To read about Saint Leo freshman Bernard claiming the NCAA DII individual title on Thursday, CLICK HERE.
The men’s tourney — and the women’s DII finals at CommonGround Golf Course — are part of the NCAA Division II National Championships Festival in which titles in six sports (M&W golf, M&W tennis, softball and women’s lacrosse) will be decided.
Tickets for the DII National Festival are $5 per person per day, or $15 for an all-session pass for the week. Tickets purchased at one site will be valid at all other competition sites.
For more information on the Spring Sports Festival, CLICK HERE.
For results from the men’s tournament, CLICK HERE.
