The UC Davis men’s golf team will compete in the NCAA Division I Championship for the fourth time as the Aggies were picked as an at-large squad on Monday.

UCD got a No. 11 seed and will compete at the Auburn Regional, set for May 17-19 at the par-72 Auburn University Club course.

The 62nd-ranked Aggies, who earned automatic berths after winning the 2009, 2011 and 2012 Big West championships, picked up an at-large bid for the first time after taking second at the wind-shortened conference tournament.

“There are a lot of teams that get in by winning their conference, which you always want to do, but to be selected by the committee means that you truly are one of the top teams in Division I,” said UCD coach Cy Williams. “Our guys deserve it.”

Eighty-one teams make up the six NCAA Regionals. The top five teams and a low individual will qualify for the May 23-28 NCAA Finals at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan.

The Auburn Regional features five teams ranked in the top 25, including defending national champion and top-ranked Alabama.

UCD finished 12th at the Stanford Regional in 2012, and was eighth in 2011 as current Aggie senior Matt Hansen captured medalist honors to advance to the national finals. Hansen is coming off of a first-place individual finish at the Big West championship.

It was Hansen’s second straight win after also taking the El Macero Classic the previous week while leading UCD to the team title. He’s averaging 70.2 strokes to lead the team this season while Ben Corfee, from El Macero, is second at 72.6. Luke Vivolo (73.4), Nicolas Noya (73.6) and Joshua Granger (74.7) are also playing well.

Comments

comments