Palm City, FL — Fifteen schools traveled to Florida to play in the Valspar Collegiate. Many of these schools are ranked in the Golfstat Top 25, making it the premier NCAA Golf Tournament this week.
Pepperdine Wins By 14 Strokes
The 10th ranked and defending national champions, Pepperdine dominated the field as a team this week, shooting a total of 34-under par. The closest to them was Florida State at 20-under over the three rounds. It truly was a dominating performance.
Pepperdine had a total of three players cracking the top 10 individually as well, Dylan Menante, Joe Highsmith, and William Mouw. All with scores of 6-under or better. What was very interesting to look at was the fact that as a team they only led two stat categories. They were one of only three other teams to average below bar on par-4 and let the whole tournament with 78 birdies. The closest to them was No. 6 Arizona State with 66 birdies. They also finished second in par-5 scoring averages with 4.60 strokes.
Florida State Continues Their Run
After winning last week in Houston against a lot of the same teams, the Seminoles have been proving they should be ranked higher. After last week’s win they moved up to 26th in the Golfstat rankings now that they finished 2nd at 20-under. Individually, Florida State also had a dominating performance with two players, Frederik Kjettrup and Cole Anderson.
Frederick Kjettrup also won individually in Houston last week and finished second today. His final round is what really propelled him up the leaderboard, tying the lowest score on the day, shooting 7-under. He also led everyone in par-4 scoring averaging, with 3.7 stokes. He is also the first player in Seminole history to record three rounds at 64 or lower.
Menante Takes Home First College Win
The Junior Menante took home his first ever NCAA victory today as well. He won by one stroke at 14-under par.
In addition to this, Menante also averaged under par-on-par threes, fours, and fives. With a 2.87, 3.78, and 4.50.
After the first round, there was no looking back for Menante. His starting 64 really set the tone. After that, he then shot a 65, and lastly his one-under 70 was enough to get him the victory.
What’s Next
There is not really a big regular season tournament like this one coming up; however, NCAA regionals are not far out. It will take place on May 15-18 in six separate locations. College Station, Palm Beach, New Haven, Stockton, Tuscaloosa, and Columbus.
With the way these tournaments have been going recently, really anyone could still take the title in June.
Get ready for some great college golf to come!
