Mustangs Set For NCAA Championship Run
May 26 | Men's Golf
Complete Release 
| Live Scores / Tee Times
Fresh off a share of the victory at the NCAA Noblesville Regionals, the SMU Mustangs head to Bradenton, Florida, for the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships, starting Friday, May 29. The six-day event will conclude on June 3. A total of 30 teams and 156 of the nation's best collegiate golfers will converge at The Concession Golf Club.
SMU tied for seventh in the stroke play portion of the 2014 NCAA Championships, advancing to the match play quarterfinals versus Alabama. The Mustangs lost a tight battle to the eventual national champion, 3-2, with Bryson DeChambeau and Harry Higgs picking up wins against the Crimson Tide. The showing in the national finals was SMU's first since 2005, the last of five straight championship appearances for the Mustangs.
SMU has advanced to the NCAA postseason for six straight years, dating back to the 2009-10 season. The Mustangs have competed in the NCAA Championship finals 18 times, earning eight top-10 national finishes, including winning the 1954 national title.
The Mustangs' win at the NCAA Noblesville Regional was the first regional title in program history. SMU, the No. 5 seed entering the event, shot par or better as a team in all three rounds to tie for the win with No. 4 Illinois. The Mustangs also beat No. 8 Oregon, No. 15 UCLA and the defending national champion, No. 21 Alabama.
The tournament begins with four days of stroke play, May 29-June 1. The individual medalist will be crowned after those four rounds, and the top eight teams will advance to the match play quarterfinals, beginning June 2. Both the quarterfinals and semifinals will be played on June 2, with the championship match taking place on June 3. The final three days of the tournament will be televised live on the Golf Channel.
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Jason Enloe
On the team's mindset and plan heading into the NCAA Championships...
"We want to play our best golf at the end of the year like we did last year. We have planned the whole season on getting back to match play and giving ourselves a chance to win this thing. It'll take the same formula that we've used these past few tournaments. We're physically fit and we'll play our game and limit our bogeys. The guys are all good ball-strikers, and they've been getting a lot of birdies, we just need to limit our bogeys."
On his squad compared to the 30-team field...
"I've looked at the field, and there a few teams that are a cut above the rest of us, like Arizona State, Texas, Illinois and Florida State. We've proved that we can play with them. There's about 15 teams that, if they play their games, can win. There's a lot of teams that are very talented. If we play like we did at Regionals or at Stanford, it would be hard to bet against us to make the final eight."
On DeChambeau and Smotherman leading the team...
"You have to have a strong one-two punch, and I anticipate those two playing well and leading us as co-captains. Every strong team has at least two guys that you can rely on every round, and they are supported by the rest of the lineup. You can't go very far if your top guys aren't playing well."
On what it means to make it to the NCAA Championships again...
"We're all excited to be on our way to the NCAA Championships. Our goal is to play well and to represent SMU and everyone who supports us the best we can. We have a lot of people that we are very grateful for and we want to represent them well and make them proud."
THE FIELD
The tournament field consists of 30 teams and 156 total golfers. The NCAA Regional winners include SMU/Illinois (Noblesville), Charlotte (Chapel Hill), Oklahoma (San Diego), Texas (Lubbock), UAB (Bremerton) and USF (New Haven). The American Athletic Conference has three teams represented, including two Regional winners - SMU, USF and Houston (won a playoff versus Purdue for the last qualifying spot from the Lubbock regional). 13 teams in the field have won the Division I men's golf national championship multiple times - Houston (16 times), Oklahoma State (10), Stanford (8), Florida (4), LSU (4), Texas (3), Arizona State (2), Georgia (2) and UCLA (2). Four teams have one national title to their credit - SMU, Clemson, Oklahoma and UNLV.
2014 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS - REWIND (May 23-27, 2014)
SMU advanced to the quarterfinals of match play at the 2014 NCAA Championship in Hutchinson, Kansas, falling to eventual national champion Alabama, 3-2. Bryson DeChambeau and Harry Higgs picked up wins for the Mustangs. SMU's national championship result (tied for fifth) was the program's best since winning the national title in 1954. SMU tied for seventh after 72 holes of stroke play, led by DeChambeau, who tied for ninth individually at 3-under par. SMU was 5-over as a team, beating out South Carolina by one stroke to secure a transfer spot to match play.
DECHAMBEAU NAMED CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE YEAR, BUCHANAN GETS ALL-CONFERENCE NOD
SMU junior Bryson DeChambeau was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year, league officials announced. Both DeChambeau and sophomore Andrew Buchanan received all-conference recognition.
DeChambeau is the first Mustang golfer to win league player of the year honors since Kelly Kraft won Conference USA Player of the Year in 2010. DeChambeau is also the first SMU player since Kraft to receive all-conference honors in three consecutive seasons.
DeChambeau is currently ranked fourth in the Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking and 27th in the latest World Amateur Golf Ranking. The Clovis, Calif., native took second at The American Championships, recording a tournament-record 8-under 64 in the final round. DeChambeau has four top-five finishes this season, including a win at the Erin Hills Intercollegiate in early October.
The SMU co-captain played consistently to end the regular season, posting four top-five finishes over the last five events. Most recently, DeChambeau placed fifth at the NCAA Noblesville Regional.
DeChambeau has had a spectacular year of golf since winning the 2014 edition of The American Championship. He represented the United States twice, traveling to the United Kingdom to play in the Palmer Cup in June and then teaming up with Texas' Beau Hossler and Virginia's Denny McCarthy to win the World Amateur Team Championship in Japan in September, where DeChambeau carded a course record 61 in the second round of the tournament. DeChambeau was named to the Ben Hogan Award watch list in March, and was a second team All-American last season.
Buchanan received all-conference honors by placing fifth at The American Championship. The finish was Buchanan's third top-10 and second top-five of the season. Buchanan tied for ninth at the season-opening GolfWeek Conference Challenge and tied for fourth at the Erin Hills Intercollegiate. Buchanan shot under-par in all three rounds of The American Championship.
SMOTHERMAN STEPPING UP
Coming into his junior season, Austin Smotherman had four career top-10 finishes over his freshman and sophomore campaigns. Smotherman has seven top-10 finishes this season, entering the 2015 NCAA Championships. Smotherman tied for fifth at the season-opening GolfWeek Conference Challenge, then recorded back-to-back 10th-place finishes at the Gifford Collegiate and the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters. The Loomis, California, native also recorded a fifth-place finish at The Goodwin at the end of March. In the final round at The Goodwin, Smotherman carded a career-best 8-under 62 round to push SMU to the co-championship. Smotherman posted six birdies and an eagle with no bogeys on the final day. Smotherman tied for seventh at the NCAA Noblesville Regional, marking his third consecutive top-10 finish.
LAST EVENT: SMU TIES FOR NCAA REGIONAL WIN (May 14-16)
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. -- The SMU Mustangs shot 5-under as a team on the back nine to tie No. 4 Illinois for the win at the NCAA Noblesville Regional at The Sagamore Golf Club. The win is the second of the season for the Mustangs, and means that SMU will be making its second straight appearance at the NCAA Championships.
Junior Austin Smotherman tied the Fighting Illini for the lead at 4-under with an eagle on the par-5 18th hole. SMU held a 1-shot lead with just one group left to play the final hole, but Illinois' Brian Campbell birdied the 18th to tie the score back at 4-under.
SMU was led by its junior co-captains, Smotherman and Bryson DeChambeau, who combined to shoot 3-under to help give SMU a team score of 287 (-1). Both players had 2-under 34's on the back nine. Fellow junior Ryan Burgess gave SMU an even-par 72, and sophomore Andrew Buchanan provided the team's final counting score with a 2-over 74.
DeChambeau finished fifth individually at 4-under for his fifth top-five of the season. Smotherman tied for seventh at 2-under, earning his seventh top-10 finish of the season. Freshman Ben Baxter, who shot a 76 on Saturday, tied for 16th at 2-over.
SMU, Illinois, UNLV, No. 15 UCLA and No. 8 Oregon all advanced out of the regional. Colorado's David Oraee snagged the individual advancing position, finishing second in the event.
DECHAMBEAU, SMOTHERMAN COMPETE AT INAUGURAL U.S. AMATEUR FOUR-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
SMU juniors Bryson DeChambeau and Austin Smotherman advanced to the round of 16 at the inaugural U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. The duo tied for fifth after two rounds of stroke play, earning the sixth seed for the beginning of match play. The duo clinched their round of 32 match with a birdie on the 15th hole, winning 5 & 3 over Matthew Collins and Wes Stafford. Former Mustangs Draegen Majors and Brooks Price advanced to the quarterfinals by beating the event's top seed in the round of 16.
