Alabama Cruises To NCAA Men's Title

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Ryan Herrington on Alabama, losers in a heartbreaking fashion at Riviera last year, edged Illinois 4-1 in Sunday's NCAA Men's Golf Championship.

Coach Jay Seawell summed up the return to the finals and this time, a win.

"It makes it more special," said Seawell afterward about taking care of unfinished business. "It makes you appreciate it even a great deal to more. It's so hard to even get here. And these guys have been on a mission, a mission, a mission. It is their championship and we won because of them.

Golfweek live blogged the match, here are the updates.

Rob Matre posted a gallery of final day images at his website.

Cal's Dream Season Ends A Day Short Of Title

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Ryan Herrington reports on the heartbreaking 3-2 loss for Cal to Illinois, costing them a chance at a title they seemed destined to win. Individual winner Max Homa lost a 20-hole match to Thomas Pieters that ultimately decided the outcome. Tracy Wilcox's photo gallery tells the story too.

Interesting that so many are upset by the NCAA's match play format, but I'm not sure how it's "fluky" or "unfair" for a team to win a match in this format. You have five opportunities and if you don't win at least three, well, you probably were just beat by the other team. I'm not seeing the luck element in play here!

Illinois faces Alabama in the final and Ron Balicki previews the match.

Homa Grabs NCAA Title But Not Before Another Depo!

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Capping off a dream season that included an amazing 61 at LA North en route to the Pac 12 title, Cal's Max Homa captured the NCAA individual title at Capital City Club.

Ryan Herrington reports on the win, which came after Homa's second detention session before the committee.

"Personally coming in as a freshman I couldn't imagine being in a nationalchampionship let alone contending," Homa said. "To come out and beat [the best players in the country] when you need to, it just makes you feel so much better about your own game."

Lance Ringler reports on a slow play penalty costing Texas A&M a chance to advance to the match play.

News Of The Insane: NCAA Cracks Down On Car Washing Golfer

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Jeff Eisenberg on a female WCC golfer cited by the NCAA after a school self-reported violation because she washed her car on campus.

No, really. Thanks to readers Owen and Jeff for one I had to read twice to believe.

Portland basketball coach Eric Reveno tweeted about the violation Wednesday after he learned of it during conference meetings, punctuating his message with the hashtag #stopinsanity. A spokesman for the WCC did not know any further details, but a source familiar with the circumstances revealed what happened.

A WCC school self-reported an extra benefits violation to the NCAA when university officials caught one of their women's golfers washing her car on campus, according to the source. The NCAA ruled a secondary violation had occurred because the water and hose were not available to regular students and requested the golfer pay back $20, which was deemed to be the value of the water and use of the hose.

NCAA's: Slow Play Penalty Assessed After Hour-Long Detention!

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Ryan Herrington reports on the slow play detention session for Cal's Max Homa, Alabama's Scott Strohmeyer and UCLA's Jonathan Gerrick that resulted in Gerrick being assessed a one-stroke penalty after an hour of discussion.

I'm all for slow play crackdowns, but an hour to give one player a shot penalty?

"You sit there and they actually grill you pretty good," said Alabama coach Jay Seawell about the interview process to determine whether a penalty is warranted. "You feel like you're in a Turkish prison."

"I don't know what a Turkish prison is like," Homa noted after his meeting. "But i felt like I was in detention. They had me sit out side and told me to wait with Strohmeyer. It wasn't fun. I wouldn't wish it on anybody."

Turkish prison? Joey...

Cal Kicks Off NCAA Finals Play...

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Janie McCauley doesn't break any new ground on the amazing story that is Cal golf but she does review all of the essential elements that make them an underdog program heading into the NCAA finals Tuesday in Georgia.

Cal has won 11 of 13 in 2012-13. And as Ryan Lavner notes, they head into the finals with a season record of 173-3-1 and up over 6000 shots on fields this year.

The top-ranked California men's golf team has no home course to call its own, typically shuttling among seven or eight local spots. Most of the Golden Bears were passed on by the elite college golf programs.

Still, Cal is favored to win the NCAA championships beginning Tuesday in Georgia — quite an accomplishment for the record-setting program that operates without any financial help from the university. The golf team has an annual budget of about $600,000.

Golfweek has all of the coverage, including this Twitter feed of players and coaches. And Lance Ringler reminds us that with the match play format, the dynamics of the NCAA are different than what teams see most of the year.

You can follow scores here.

Cal Men Set School Record With 23-Under Day

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This is just getting silly with Cal's men's team, winners of 10 of 12 2013 events.

Now they've opened up the NCAA Men's regionals by firing a school record 23-under day in Pullman with two rounds to go.

Sean Martin reports.

Cal's round set the school record for lowest 18-hole team score and lowest team round in relation to par. "Any time you set a school record, it feels pretty good," head coach Steve Desimone said. "I guess it should be no surprise it was this team that did it."