Vagaries Of Match Play Warning: NCAA Men's Championships

I've spared you the various stories over the last few weeks where college coaches whine about the new NCAA championship format because, well, I can only take so many ignorant comments about the "flukiness" or "vagaries" or "luck involved" with match play.

To review, from the Golfweek staff (you can also read their picks here):

Teams will play 54 holes of stroke play to determine the individual champion and the eight teams that advance will play match play. The quarterfinals and semifinals will take place Friday, with the championship match being held Saturday.

Personally, I think it's a more pure and logical way to find out who has the best team. Sure, the 54-holes to determine the individual winner isn't ideal and there is still a reliance on stroke play to determine the final 8. And oh yes and there's the motivation behind the move: to lure television.

Regardless, doesn't this have the potential for excitement and to deliver a more worthy team champion than a traditional stroke play event?

Ryan Herrington thinks so provided the weather doesn't become a story, and he also makes his picks for the week:

Think of how much grinding we're going to see in the final stroke-play round as the 30 teams try to earn a spot in the Elite Eight?

And if that doesn't seem compelling enough, think of how intense the head-to-head, school-versus-school showdowns will be as we narrow the field to four teams, then two and ultimately a national champion. Tell me you don't think a Georgia vs. Georgia Tech match-up in any round won't be interesting? What if UCLA must face USC to get to the championship match?

Here's A Guy I'm Not Rooting For...

...considering how tough college golf scholarships are to come by, anyone who plays one college event as a senior then turns pro, really is one selfish young man. Ryan Herrington reports.

“Andrew played harder than some of the other boys wanted to play.”

Thanks to readers Ari and John for these stories related to Andrew Giuliani suing Duke University over coach O.D. Vincent dismissing the senior from the golf team.

Ellis Henican in Newsday:

Late yesterday, his attorneys filed a federal lawsuit in North Carolina, contending the university has violated its obligations to him as a student-athlete and demanding he be invited back to Duke's state-of-the-art golf-training facility.

It's obviously been a tense few months on campus.

On Feb. 11, the lawsuit says, men's golf coach "O.D. Vincent announced to the team that he was unilaterally canceling Andrew's eligibility to participate in the University's Athletics Program immediately and indefinitely. Andrew and his teammates were shocked. Andrew had no prior notice of what was about to happen. At no time was Andrew ever given an opportunity to defend himself; instead he was summarily dismissed."

Dan Slater posts these details on the WSJ's blog. Unfortunately for Vincent, it reads like satire.

The suit claims that incidents of misconduct that Vincent cited in his reasons for expelling Giuliani were not appropriate reasons for expulsion, such as:

    •    On Feb. 2 Giuliani flipped his putter a few feet to his golf bag.

    •    On Feb. 3, Giuliani leaned over his driver and it broke, and “in O.D. Vincent’s telling, this became ‘throwing and breaking’ a club.”

    •    On Feb. 3, Giuliani walked ahead of his playing partner at Treyburn Golf Course and later that day “gunned the engine” of his car and “drove fast while leaving the golf course parking lot.”

    •    On Feb. 4, during a golf-team football game, “Andrew played harder than some of the other boys wanted to play.”

    •    On Feb. 10, while Giuliani was eating an apple, a teammate twice hit the golfer’s hand and knocked the fruit to the ground. After that same teammate “slammed a door hitting Andrew’s face,” Giuliani “tossed the apple at a teammate, glancing off the side of his face.”

Bruins Take First Title Since 1988

Ron Balicki reports that the UCLA men made it a SoCal sweep in the NCAA team competition, all topped off by Kevin Chappell's individual title.

"I know I'm adding it to my own list of the top-five most impressive rounds I've seen in 11 years covering the college game."

That's what Ryan Herrington says about UCLA's Kevin Chappell's 68 during third round play at the NCAA's, where he opened up a four shot lead while his Bruins vaulted to first place, just ahead of USC and Clemson.

Sean Martin profiled Chappell earlier this year and it's worth reading if you don't know Chappell's story.

“Mind-boggling fast"

Freak setup week continues, first with Larry Dorman reporting on Muirfield Village's greens reaching speeds that have even the PGA Tour's finest in shock.

“Mind-boggling fast,” Joe Ogilvie said after his round of 69. “Maybe 15 on the Stimpmeter.”

“Probably the fastest greens we have played in a long time,” Sergio García said after a 72.

“The greens are so fast you can’t believe it,” Brett Quigley, in the field as the second alternate, added after his round of 67.

Ogilvie was moved to come up with an unusually creative visual image: “You know how dogs will never step on a glass surface because they know they’ll slip?” he said. “Well, if you unleashed a thousand dogs by the 18th green, none would walk on it. They’d all go around it.”

Thanks to reader Rob for noticing this Stan Awtrey piece on Georgia's play at the NCAA Men's Championships, which, when you throw in a coach named Haack and injuries from rough, reads like somethign out of a Jenkins novel.

Georgia did it with a short-handed strategy — Haack called it "a four-legged team" — made necessary after freshman Harris English experienced his worst day of the season. English had two double bogeys and a quadruple bogey en route to a 10-over 46 on his front nine. He finished with an 86.

"But he can come out and bounce back," Haack said. "Anything can happen."

That's not just Haack-speak, either; English opened with a team-high 74 at the East Regional but rebounded with a 65.

Swafford had a team-best 73, leaving him tied for seventh overall, after making bogeys on the final two holes. But the sophomore birdied the two most difficult holes on the course and nearly holed out for an eagle at No. 18, his ninth hole.

"I just tried to be patient and hit it in the center area," said Swafford, who was wearing a brace on his right ankle, a result of stepping in a rough-disguised hole during Monday's practice round. "I think I can build on it. Eliminate two shots, and I'm under par."

Update on 2008-05-30 15:39 by Geoff

From Rex Hoggard on the Golfweek Tour blog:

Brett Quigley called it “doomsday.” Others had less-than-printable monikers for Jack Nicklaus’ Muirfield Village.

Shaun Micheel was the first victim of greens some players estimate are rolling at 15 on the Stimpmeter. The former PGA champion hit his approach 57 feet past the hole at the par-4 18th. His birdie putt stopped rolling 46 yards down the fairway and Micheel signed for a double bogey-6.

Not long after Micheel’s odyssey, Justin Bolli fired his approach about 50 feet past the hole and raced his first putt to almost the same spot in the fairway. Bolli added to his woes when his chip from 45 yards stopped short of the pin and spun back down the fairway. Bolli finally two-putted for a triple bogey-7.

“It’s ridiculous,” hissed one player as he walked out of the scoring hut. “You turn a great golf course into a piece of (crap) by making the greens too fast.”

78.9

That's the day one scoring average at the men's NCAA's.

This who midwest values hard-is-good thing is really getting old. Ron Balicki reports here for Golfweek and Ryan Herrington here for Golf World where he notes that the USC-UCLA battle at the top is repeating what happened in the women's final and is making southern California the epicenter of college golf.

Rough Harvest Updates

Good crops this year in the midwest it seems. 

AP's Rusty Miller has the lowdown on Muirfield Village's fresh crop, which Jack Nicklaus says is the same as last year but which players say is more brutal than ever. Wait, let me run to set my TiVo, you know how I love to watch guys chop out.

Meanwhile Ryan Herrington reports that Purdue’s "magnificently maniacal" Kampen Course, which I thought was supposed to be this super environmentally sensitive organic laboratory is spruiced up with a 3 1/2 inch first cut of rough, followed by a 5 inch layer for this week's NCAA Men's Championship. 

'09 NCAA Format Switch Not Going Over Well

On the eve of the NCAA Men's Championships at Purdue, Mike Carmin talks to coaches about the final NCAA to be played as a 72-hole stroke play event and explains the new format that will debut next year (and which most seem to not care for). I love the new format's attempt to get teams and match play involved, but I'm afraid shortening the individual competition to 54 holes will make it hard for the folks at Augusta National to give a spot to the NCAA champ.

“It was a tough call. Not a good day to be a rules official.”

Both reports out of the NCAA Women's Championship imply that the round called Wednesday due to high winds should not have been called. Beth Ann Baldry at Golfweek writes:

Play was suspended for the first time at 1:10 p.m. May 21, just as the morning wave began to finish. Southern California and UCLA managed to wrap things up and post an 8-over 584 total. Of the teams that finished, Denver posted the day’s lowest round, 6-over 294, and trails by three.

After an initial two-hour, 10-minute delay, teams were sent out to resume play. Officials hoped for a weather lull but instead found even stronger wind gusts.

“I thought it was calmer before they called it off the first time,” said Duke’s Amanda Blumenherst, who was 3 under through 14 holes. When she returned to finish her round, Blumenherst three-putted twice to post 1-under 71.

And...

Many coaches were stunned to hear the horn blow the first time. Rules officials saw “ball movement on four different greens,” though no penalties were assessed. Tina Krah, NCAA director of championships, said conditions weren’t dangerous but felt that players were in an “unfair situation.”

“Our intent is to not wait until there are penalties,” Krah said. “Our intent is to protect them from penalties.”

As coaches and players gathered around the UNM clubhouse, many said they never saw the wind blow one ball. Tulsa coach Randy Keck called the decision “one of the worst he’s ever seen.”

At the Conference USA Championship in El Paso, Keck said “the dirt was so thick in the air you couldn’t see the ball.” Tulsa not only finished, they won.

Purdue coach Devon Brouse also oversees the men’s program in West Lafayette, Ind. He counted at least three tournaments this year where the men played in tougher winds.

“I don’t see this as a dangerous situation,” Brouse said. “You have the Rules of Golf to cover balls moving on the greens.”

Ryan Herrington got the same reaction from coaches and also noted that the possibility of a Saturday finish now exists. 

A 61 At Bel-Air!

Ryan Herrington reports that USC's Tom Glissmeyer fired a 28-33-61 at Bel-Air Country Club, needing only 20 putts. Having just been at Bel-Air recently, I can safely say the greens are running about 12. And these are not exactly flat greens.

The really good news is that unlike at some classic courses, the club can't go and destroy more of the original Thomas design in a knee jerk reaction to such a low round! It's already been done...in spades 

"If I'd have had full status somewhere, I definitely would have (turned pro). Now I don't know."

Steve Elling checks in with the two college players who were playing PGA Tour and LPGA Q-School as amateurs and considers where this leaves college golf.

"I think you might see more and more guys with the financial resources take a run at it"

Steve Elling wonders if UNLV junior Seung-su Han, who has made it through three stages of Q-School to reach the finals, is beginning a wave of college golfers entering and potentially leaving school early if they qualify.

"I think you might see more and more guys with the financial resources take a run at it," said [Dwayne] Knight, whose team is ranked No. 33 nationally by Golfweek. "But if you don't allow them to chase their dream, you'll never get the top players, like Adam Scott."

Scott, a fixture in the top 10 of the world rankings, played briefly at UNLV before turning pro. As with Duke and North Carolina basketball, college golf could increasingly become a sport in which programs sign blue-chip players in hopes of keeping them in school for a mere year or two. If college coaches balk, turning pro out of high school will continue to gain popularity. To wit, Kevin Na, Sean O'Hair and Ty Tryon all turned pro before they graduated from high school and eventually made the PGA Tour, skipping college altogether.

Bailing on college in mid-semester isn't an academic ideal, but without getting preachy, many top players look at college as a means to an end, anyway. So let's not wax nostalgic about motives. Golf was lucky to have lasted this long with only minimal professional temptation.

"Rarely does anybody in any walk of life have the chance to fulfill a lifelong dream," Knight said. "In the end, you have got to support the dream."

"Which is why they’re going to wear full rain gear to practice Thursday, regardless of the weather."

Sean Martin's Golfweek.com excellent profile of the UCLA men's golf team and issues they are facing, starting with the fact they haven't played an event yet.

Then there's the team member who is playing round 1 of PGA Tour Qualifying school the day after UCLA finishes their first event (they call this amateur golf!?) and there's the incoming freshman who had a rough summer...after missing three PGA Tour cuts.

Oh and this reminder that college coaches have been known to overthink things from time to time.

Even the course that’s hosting the Bruins’ first tournament – Chambers Bay Golf Club in University Place, Wash. – is a mystery. The links-style layout opened just four months ago, but is already No. 2 on the recently-released Golfweek’s Best New Courses list. The late-October weather in Washington could throw another wrench in the Bruins’ debut, which is why they’re going to wear full rain gear to practice Thursday, regardless of the weather.

If they're playing Riviera, should be nice and warm in those suits.