NCAA Women Finish Friday As Men's Final Kicks Off
/It's a strange bit of scheduling that won't be replicated down the road when the NCAA Women's Golf Championship is played at the same course as the men, but in year one of college golf's placement on Golf Channel the men's final starts Friday at Prairie Dunes as the women's final ends at Tulsa Country Club.
The women are deciding their champion via stroke play one more time and as Julie Williams reports, Duke is going for its sixth title as defending champions USC lurks just six strokes back. A shame this one isn't on TV!
Duke, runner-up to USC a year ago by 21 shots, matched that score for a six-shot advantage to start the final round. It would be Duke’s sixth national championship, and for head coach Dan Brooks, a repeat, of sorts. Brooks coached his Blue Devils to the 1999 NCAA title at Tulsa Country Club, before Rees Jones did a series of renovations on the 1920s A.W. Tillinghast design.
You can follow final round scores here.
As for the men, I'll have more in a few days about the return to television, the exciting new (to TV viewers) format and the national TV debut of Prairie Dunes.
In the meantime, Cassie Stein has various notes on the men's championship, including pairings and an explanation of the format.
• 54 holes of team qualifying for match play will take place Friday-Sunday (top 8 teams advance); The individual championship has been extended to 72 holes and will conclude Monday (the top 40 and ties continue to play); the quarterfinals and semifinals are set for Tuesday with the championship match set for Wednesday.
