Scott Kelly finishes 43rd at NCAA
5/22/2010 5:57:00 PM | Men's Golf
Sam Houston junior golfer Scott Kelly fired his best single round score with an even-par 72 to finish 43rd in the NCAA South Central men's golf regional championship Sunday.
Kelly's 54-hole total was 225 after an eight-over 80 in the first round Friday and a one-over 73 in the second round Saturday. Kelly was the third best finisher among the five individual at-large entries in the regional tournament.
Russell Henley of the University of Georgia won the individual medalist title with a nine-under 71-67-69--207, thus earning the right to advance to the national championships as an individual since the Bulldogs lost out on a team berth in a playoff.
The tournament was played on the 7,146-yard par 72 course at the Traditions Club in College Station. The five low teams and the low individual not competing from one of the low five teams in the regional tournament will advance to the NCAA Men's Golf Championship on June 4-6 in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Texas Tech won the team championship by one stroke with an 851 three-round total. Texas A&M (852), TCU (858) and Northern Florida (859) finished second through fourth, respectively. Baylor and Georgia tied for fifth at 869.
The two teams dueled for the championships berth in a sudden death playoff on the par-4 18th.
The first group was Bryant Macpherson (par), T.J. Mitchell (+2) and Rob Bennett (+1) of Georgia and Ryan O'Rear (par) and Cody Paladino (par) of Baylor. The second group was Russell Henley (par) and Harris English (par) of Georgia and Payne Gniewak (par), Lorenzo Scotto (+1) and Joakim Mikkelson (-1) of Baylor. After dropping the high score, Baylor was -1 and Georgia was +1, and the Bears advance to the NCAA Championships.
Kelly led Sam Houston in stroke average this season with a 73.0 average, the second lowest single season scoring average in school history. He won individual medalist honors at the Sam Houston Elkins Lake Fall Classic and posted top 10 individual finishes in seven of the 11 tournaments in which the Bearkats participated this season.
Kelly's selection marks the seventh time since Sam Houston moved up to the NCAA Division I level in 1986-87 that a Bearkat has earned an at-large individual men's golf regional berth. It is the second year in a row for a Kat golfer to go to regionals. Rafferty placed 48th in the 2009 NCAA competition.
Other Sam Houston NCAA regional at-large selections have been Jeff Bellnap in 1990, Dean Choate in 1994, Brandt Kieschink in 1997 and 1999 and Todd Rossetti in 1998.
