UDM Golfers Close Strong At NCAA Central Regional

The Titans saved their best for last as they finished 12th in a rugged field Saturday at the NCAA Men’s Golf Central Regional at Notre Dame.

Following suspension of play in Round 2 on Friday due to thunderstorms, Detroit returned to the Warren Golf Club early Saturday morning and completed their final holes under par as a team as they vaulted past Ohio Valley champ Murray State into 12th position and within 14 shots of 36th-ranked North Carolina State, which stood 11th.

Returning to the course after an hour’s break, the Horizon League champion Titans continued to flirt with par almost all the way round and ended up by firing a 285, the lowest team total in their five Regional appearances over the last 10 years. It left them eight up on Murray State, and 12 behind N.C. State in the final standings. Second-ranked Stanford won the Regional – which included 11 teams rated in the Top 60 by Golfstat – while Florida State, Florida, Duke and LSU also advanced to next month’s NCAA Championships.

Junior Britt Pronk (London, ON/St. Thomas Aquinas) and senior David Byrne (Essex, ON/Essex) posted matching final-day 70’s to lead the Titans. Pronk tied for 43rd place overall at 217 for three rounds, while Byrne, the 2010 Horizon League Player of the Year, was one stroke back in 48th. Freshman Simon Reyers (Kingston, ON/Holy Cross, 72-220), junior Jeff Clarridge (Barrie, ON/Bear Creek, 73-221) and senior Brian Sparks (Shelby Township, MI/Lutheran North, 79-229) followed in a balanced UDM lineup as they claimed 52nd, 56th and 70th place, respectively.

“I think we have a lot to be proud of with this team and the way we played,” Titans coach Mark Engel said. “The course was really tough, especially when the rains came and it played even longer, and our guys kept getting better and better. You can’t take a round off in this kind of competition and expect to do anything, and we learned a bit from playing in another Regional.

"Our score came down each round and we moved up in the standings, higher than we were seeded. That’s something to always look for. Our team had another good, solid year, and this was a great way to wrap it up.”

Courtesy of UDM Sports Information