NCAA Championship
May 24-29 | All Day
Carlsbad, Calif. | Omni La Costa Champions Course
LIVE STATS |  TOURNAMENT NOTES
 
SMU men's golf heads to the NCAA Championship after a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Regional. The Championship runs May 24-29 from Omni La Costa Champions Course.
 
The Field
The 30-team field features the top five finishers from six regionals . Along with No. 41 SMU, the field includes Arizona, Auburn, Baylor, Cal, Clemson, East Tennessee State, Florida, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Illinois, LSU, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Florida, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Purdue, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Utah, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Wake Forest and West Virginia.

Mustang Lineup        
Zachary Kingsland
Will Sides
Chaz Aurilia
J. Holland Humphries
Matthew Foster
 
MUSTANGS AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP
SMU is making its 23^rd appearance at the NCAA Championship and first since 2021. The Mustangs won the 1954 NCAA Championship. In the stroke play era, the Mustangs had top 10 finishes in 1955 (9^th), 1956 (7^h), 1957 (6^th), 1958 (6^th), 1972 (8^th) and 1973 (10^th). In the match play era, the Mustangs have made two quarterfinal appearances in 2014 and 2019.

Mustang Notables
 
-SMU averaged 288.24 per round last season, good for 3.52 above par on average which ranked fifth best all-time at SMU. They are averaging 282.28 through 33 rounds this season. That's good for 2.39 below par on average.

-The Mustangs finished in the top half of the field in the first five of six competitions. They've finished in the top third six times this season. Last time out, the Mustangs finished in the top four at the NCAA Regional.

-A pair of Mustangs were selected All-Conference by the league after the AAC Championship. Zach Kingsland earned all-conference status with his team-leading 70.39 scoring average. Kingsland has a team high 22 rounds of par or better. Will Sides was named all-conference for the second straight year. Sides has a 71.11 scoring average and is tied for the team lead with 14 rounds in the 60s.
 
-- The Mustangs broke the single round scoring record with a score of 265 in the middle round of the NCAA Regional. Kingsland led the Mustangs with a score of 63. J. Holland Humphries also helped the Mustangs low score with his round of 64. Chaz Aurilia had a 68 performance and Matthew Foster was even par.

--SMU set the single round to par SMU record with an 18-under performance on day one of the 2023 Maui Jim Intercollegiate. Each Mustang shot four-under or better on the day. They bested the previous best round of -17 set back at the John Burns Intercollegiate in 2005-06. They tied that performance in the second round of the Stephens Cup (18-under).
 
-At the Stephens Cup, the Mustangs posted the second lowest 54-hole total score in program history. SMU finished the stroke play portion of the tournament at 39-under par, two off the lowest mark set back at John Burns Intercollegiate in 2005-06.
 
-The Mustangs posted two of the four lowest 54 hole totals to par in program history in their first two tournaments. (-32 at Maui Jim Intercollegiate and -39 at the Stephens Cup). The Mustangs recorded the seventh lowest 54 hole score in their first appearance of the spring (-27 at the Arizona NIT).\
 


ZACH KINGSLAND
Kingsland is in the midst of his second year on the Hilltop after a standout freshman campaign that saw Kingsland shoot 72.94 on average and participate in 11 tournaments. This season, the sophomore leads the team with a 70.39 scoring average, the second lowest in program history. He's shot par or better in 22 of 36 rounds to lead the team. Last time out, Kingsland finished in 18^th at the NCAA Regional. Kingsland finished in eighth at the AAC Championship. He earned all-conference for his season performance. The sophomore finished in tenth at the Thunderbird Collegiate, shooting below par in each round. Kingsland finished in the top third of the field with a t-22^nd place showing at the Pauma Valley Invitational. Kingsland finished in a tie for sixth at the Wake Forest Invitational. The sophomore shot a 68 in his final round to move up the leaderboard. In his second appearance of the spring, the sophomore finished in the top half of the field at the Prestige. Kingsland finished in a tie for 12^th at the Fallen Oak Invitational. Zach carded 71 and 70 in the final two rounds. In his first appearance of 2023-24, Kingsland led the Mustangs with a 16 under performance. The sophomore shot four-under or better in every round with a low of 65. He finished in fourth place. Kingsland finished 10-under, good for 10^th place at the Stephens Cup. He posted a middle round of 64. In match play, Kingsland won his match, 5&4. Last season, his best showing came with a fifth-place finish at the Cal Poly Invitational. Kingsland shot below par every round to card a six-under score for the tournament. He finished in 15^th at the AAC Championship thanks to a round of 67 in the middle of the tournament.
 
J. HOLLAND HUMPHRIES
Humphries is averaging 71.14 so far in 2023-24, good for 0.13 below par on average. Humphries has 18 rounds of par or better this season. Last time out, Humphries helped the Mustangs advance past the NCAA Regional with a T-28^th performance. Humphries finished in eighth at the AAC Championship shooting par or better in each round. Humphries finished in 19^th at the Thunderbird Collegiate. The redshirt sophomore finished in 14^th at the Louisiana Classics, shooting 70 in the final round to move up the leaderboard. Humphries finished in a tie for 13^th at the Wake Forest Invitational shooting 72 or better in every round. The third-year standout finished in 28^th with three rounds coming with one of par or better at the Cal Poly Invitational. At the Fallen Oak Invitational, Humphries finished at six under good for 17^th place.  At the Stephens Cup, the Austin native came back from down one with two holes to play to win his match, 1 up. He started his 2023-24 season with a t-29^th performance at the Maui Jim Intercollegiate. Humphries participated in eight tournaments in 2022-23 with a 73.33 scoring average. He finished the year strong with back-to-back top 25 finishes at the Thunderbird Collegiate (T-17^th) and The AAC Championship (T-22^nd).Another Humphries standout performance came in the Wake Forest Invitational where the freshman finished in 18^th of 65 participants.  
 
WILL SIDES
SIdes is averaging 71.11 through 12 tournaments in 2023-24. Sides earned All-Conference status for the second straight year. He's second on the team with 20 rounds of par better and is tied for first with 14 rounds in the 60s. The sophomore led the Mustangs with a third-place finish at the AAC Championship. He shot a 67 in the middle round and finished at four-under par. Sides co-led the team with a 22^nd place finish at Pauma Valley. The sophomore shot a 69 in the final round. Sides finished in 14^th at the Louisiana Classics posting a 68 in the middle round. Sides led the team with a 17^th-place finish at the Prestige. He carded a round of 66 on the final day. The sophomore finished in the top third of the field at the Arizona NIT. The Tulsa native led the team at the Cal Poly Invite with a 21^st finish.  He shot a season's best 66 in round two. Sides finished in 24^th at four under at the Stephens Cup before tying his match play showdown. In his first appearance of 2023-24, he finished in 18^th at the Maui Jim Intercollegiate. He carded a round in the 60s on each day with a low of 67. Sides finished up his freshman season with seven tournament appearances and a scoring average of 72.33, good for best among returning Mustangs. Sides posted back-to-back top-20 finishes in his first two appearances as a Mustang. His best showing of the season came in a sixth-place finish at the AAC Championship. He carded a 65 in the middle round and finished five under for the tournament. The Tulsa native earned all-conference honors for his performance.
 
MATTHEW FOSTER
Foster is set to compete for the 11th time as a Mustang at the NCAA Championship. He has a 72.10 scoring average during his freshman campaign with one tournament victory. Foster finished in a tie for 28^th at the NCAA Regional to help the Mustangs advance. Foster finished in the top half of the field with a 34^th place showing at Pauma Valley. Foster shot a 68 in the middle round of the Louisiana Classics. In his second career start, Foster won the Fallen Oak Invitational with a score of eight under par. He shot rounds of 69, 71, 68 to dominate the tournament. Foster finished in a tie for 15^th at the Stephens Cup with an eight-under score. The freshman won his match play meeting on the final hole. Foster hails from Dallas where he attended Dallas Jesuit College Prep.
 
CHAZ AURILIA
Aurilia came to SMU in the summer of 2023 after a four-year career at Arizona. Chaz is fourth on the team with a 71.52 scoring average. He's third on the team with 11 rounds in the 60s. Last time out, Aurilia finished in 26^th at the NCAA Regional as the Mustangs finished in an advancing position. The graduate senior shot three-over par for the AAC Championship and finished in a tie for 19^th. Aurilia shot even par for the tournament at the Prestige. The graduate student shot nine-under at the Stephens Cup to finish in 14^th in his second appearance as a Mustang. Last season, Aurilia participated in all 12 tournaments for Arizona with a 71.71 scoring average. His best score of the season came at the Arizona Thunderbirds Intercollegiate where he placed in third. At last season's Maui Jim Intercollegiate, the Aurilia carded his best career round with a score of 65.

New Mustangs
The Mustangs added two transfers for the 2023-24 season, Chaz Aurilia and Aaron Jarvis from Arizona and UNLV respectively. SMU sports two incoming freshman on its roster with Areen Aggarwal from Columbia, Missouri and Matthew Foster from Dallas.


Last Time Out
The Mustangs qualified for their first NCAA Championship since 2021 with a fourth-place regional finish. The Mustangs set a program record for lowest round with a 265 in round two. Kingsland tallied a 63 while Humphries registered a 64. The Mustangs finished in a tie with Stanford at 10-under par.

LAST SUMMER
Zachary Kingsland and Will Sides participated in the US Amateur Four Ball Championship in July. They qualified for the match play portion with a score of -10 through two days of stroke play competition, finishing 22^nd among the field. In the round of 32 match play, Kingsland and Sides won their matchup 1 up. They dominated their round of 16 matchup, 5 and 4, to advance to the quarterfinals. They would fall narrowly in the quarters, 1 up.
 
Zach Kingsland qualified for the US Amateur in Parker, Colorado at Colorado Golf Club, August 14-20. He shot one-under par for the two days of stroke play to earn a spot in the match play portion. He won his round of 64 match up 2&1 over Ben Lorenz. He would fall 1 up to Ben James in the round of 32.
 
J. Holland Humphries earned a spot in the Monroe Invitational, a prestigious amateur golf tournament held every summer. Humphries made the cut at the Invitational and went on to finish in a tie for 23^rd. He started the four-day tournament with an impressive round of 65.