SCOTTSDALE, Arizona – The SMU men's golf team saw its season end Sunday tying for 17^th at the NCAA Championship. Mustang senior Mac Meissner played his last collegiate round Sunday, and is expected to earn automatic status on one of the PGA Tour's third-tier circuits for the remainder of the 2021 season. It is the Mustangs' fourth top-20 national finish since 2014.
 
Meissner leaves SMU third on the Mustangs' career list in scoring average (71.41) and fifth in par-or-better rounds (65). He holds four of the top-10 single-season scoring average marks in SMU history, including his 71.46 this season, which ranks seventh. He won two tournaments while on the Hilltop, including the 2019 AAC Championship.
 
Meissner was named an All-AAC selection in all three years the conference named a team he was on campus, and was the league's Freshman of the Year in 2018 and Player of the Year in 2019. A two-time All-American, Meissner was named the recipient of the Byron Nelson Award earlier this year. He is safely in the top-15 of the PGA Tour U rankings, which come with a tour card for one of the PGA Tour's third-tier circuits, when the rankings are finalized tomorrow.
 
Meissner closed his collegiate career with a 5-over 75, and was tied for 83^rd at the conclusion of play Sunday. Meissner birdied the par-4 14^th, which came in a string of birdies for the Mustangs as the team was fighting to make the cut of the top-15 teams. The Mustangs, who finished the tournament at +33, were one stroke off the cut-line.
 
Oklahoma State leads the tournament at -12, and the Cowboys' Bo Jin holds the 54-hole lead in pursuit of the individual NCAA Title at -9.
 
Noah Goodwin set the Mustangs' single-season stroke average record today, ending the season with an even 70.00 average. He breaks the previous record, set by Meissner last season of 70.44. Goodwin shot a 4-over 74 in the third round, and tied for 67^th at +9.
 
Justin Thompson, who along with Meissner, was one of two SMU graduates playing in the event, had the Ponies' best round of the day, a 1-over 71. Thompson had three birdies on the day, including one at the par-five fourth where he set his third shot within 10 feet of the pin. Thompson joined Goodwin in the tie at +9 for 67^th.
 
Ollie Osborne was the Mustangs' top finisher in the event, and battled back from a tough first seven holes to shoot a 2-over 72 at the 7,289-yard Raptor Course. Osborne, who holds an exemption into the upcoming U.S. Open, had two birdies, including one on the par-3 8^th where he nearly dunked his tee shot, which landed softly on the second bounce three feet from the cup.
 
Nathan Petronzio finished his first NCAA Championship tied for 136^th at +20, finishing with an 8-over 78, but did birdie the toughest hole on the golf course to break par, the 520-yard, par 4 18^th. Petronzio sent his second shot to eight feet before making the birdie putt.
 
The team posted the second-best scoring average in program history at 286.08, only bested by last season's 283.83. Both marks have come in the two seasons head coach Chris Parra, who took control of the program in the fall of 2019.  
 
The Mustangs end their season having posted four top-three finishes as a team in eight events, including a win at the Trinity Forest Invitational. Goodwin posted an individual victory at the NCAA Stillwater Regional, and the Mustangs had a total of nine top-five individual finishes among four different players.