Michigan State University Athletics
Photo by: Mike Miller/B1G Ten
Spartans Selected to Bryan NCAA Regional
5/4/2022 6:04:00 PM | Men's Golf
Michigan State Earns Regional Bid for Fifth Time in Last Six Years
East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State's men's golf team was selected to play in the NCAA Regionals for the fifth time in the last six years and will travel to play in the Bryan NCAA Regional at the Traditions Club in Texas.
The Spartans, seeded No. 7 in the regional, were one of 13 teams selected to play at the site and one of 81 teams in the country to reach a regional.
Complete NCAA Field
The Bryan Regional, as well as five other regionals, is scheduled to run from May 16 through May 18. The top five teams from each regional will then advance to the national championships, to be played from May 27 to June 1 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.
"This is the ultimate goal every year for your team, to make the NCAA Tournament so you have a chance to make a deep run," Head Coach Casey Lubahn said. "This year was fun because it wasn't suspenseful. The suspense was finding out which of the six locations we were going to but I'm super proud of these guys.
"When I got here, making the NCAA Tournament was pretty much a stretch and now it's an annual expectation. We don't ever want to take this for granted."
The Traditions Club, a par-72, 7,146-yard course that was designed by Jack Nicklaus and opened in 2004, is located just outside of College Station, Texas, as the regional will be hosted by No. 2 seed Texas A&M.
The 13 teams competing in the Bryan Regional include (in order of seed): 1. Pepperdine, 2. Texas A&M, 3. Georgia, 4. Tennessee, 5. Kansas, 6. Arizona, 7. Michigan State 8. SMU, 9. Boise State, 10. Oregon State, 11. Colorado State, 12. Southeastern Louisiana, and 13. Texas Southern.
In his 11th season at the helm of the MSU program, Lubahn has guided the Spartans to representation at each of the last six NCAA Tournaments and won at least one tournament in each of his 10 complete seasons of competition. The Spartans were selected for NCAA Regionals from 2016-17 to 2018-19 and senior James Piot reached a regional as an individual last year.
"It's important to take a step and back and think about what you've accomplished," Lubahn said. "This is five out of six. We did it one inch at a time. James winning the U.S. Amateur was just another part of it. Our guys are learning to dream big. They're not thinking about just making the NCAA Tournament, they want to make a Final Four, they want to make a run like that and after 11 years, it feels pretty good."
The Spartans, ranked No. 42 in the country according to Golfstat, closed out the regular season with a second place finish at the Big Ten Championships. MSU posted three runner-up finishes during the spring and had five top-five finishes during six events. Overall for the year, the Spartans had one team win – at the Island Resort Intercollegiate – and 10 top-five finishes in 12 tournaments.
Piot, who was selected to the All-Big Ten First Team for the third time in his career, leads the team with a 71.27 scoring average. Freshman Ashton McCulloch, who is second on the team with a 71.50 stroke average, was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and earned second team all-conference honors. Sophomore August Meekhof, who tied for third place at the Big Ten Championships, joined McCulloch on the All-Big Ten Second Team.
The Spartans, seeded No. 7 in the regional, were one of 13 teams selected to play at the site and one of 81 teams in the country to reach a regional.
Complete NCAA Field
The Bryan Regional, as well as five other regionals, is scheduled to run from May 16 through May 18. The top five teams from each regional will then advance to the national championships, to be played from May 27 to June 1 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.
"This is the ultimate goal every year for your team, to make the NCAA Tournament so you have a chance to make a deep run," Head Coach Casey Lubahn said. "This year was fun because it wasn't suspenseful. The suspense was finding out which of the six locations we were going to but I'm super proud of these guys.
"When I got here, making the NCAA Tournament was pretty much a stretch and now it's an annual expectation. We don't ever want to take this for granted."
The Traditions Club, a par-72, 7,146-yard course that was designed by Jack Nicklaus and opened in 2004, is located just outside of College Station, Texas, as the regional will be hosted by No. 2 seed Texas A&M.
The 13 teams competing in the Bryan Regional include (in order of seed): 1. Pepperdine, 2. Texas A&M, 3. Georgia, 4. Tennessee, 5. Kansas, 6. Arizona, 7. Michigan State 8. SMU, 9. Boise State, 10. Oregon State, 11. Colorado State, 12. Southeastern Louisiana, and 13. Texas Southern.
In his 11th season at the helm of the MSU program, Lubahn has guided the Spartans to representation at each of the last six NCAA Tournaments and won at least one tournament in each of his 10 complete seasons of competition. The Spartans were selected for NCAA Regionals from 2016-17 to 2018-19 and senior James Piot reached a regional as an individual last year.
"It's important to take a step and back and think about what you've accomplished," Lubahn said. "This is five out of six. We did it one inch at a time. James winning the U.S. Amateur was just another part of it. Our guys are learning to dream big. They're not thinking about just making the NCAA Tournament, they want to make a Final Four, they want to make a run like that and after 11 years, it feels pretty good."
The Spartans, ranked No. 42 in the country according to Golfstat, closed out the regular season with a second place finish at the Big Ten Championships. MSU posted three runner-up finishes during the spring and had five top-five finishes during six events. Overall for the year, the Spartans had one team win – at the Island Resort Intercollegiate – and 10 top-five finishes in 12 tournaments.
Piot, who was selected to the All-Big Ten First Team for the third time in his career, leads the team with a 71.27 scoring average. Freshman Ashton McCulloch, who is second on the team with a 71.50 stroke average, was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and earned second team all-conference honors. Sophomore August Meekhof, who tied for third place at the Big Ten Championships, joined McCulloch on the All-Big Ten Second Team.
Players Mentioned
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