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Texas men's golf captures regional title, extends record streak of NCAA tournaments
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AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Longhorns are headed back to the NCAA men's golf championships.
Texas extended its streak of 17 consecutive NCAA tournament qualifications with a resounding win at the NCAA Austin Regional on Wednesday at the University of Texas Golf Club in Austin. Led by medalist Christiaan Maas, the No. 13 Longhorns shot a 5-under-par 279 to end the three-day tournament at 27-under, 16 shots ahead of runners-up Tennessee.
Maas fired a 5-under 66 to make a huge move up the leaderboard on the final day, claiming top honors by a stroke at 9-under over teammate Nathan Petronzio. Maas began the third round in a tie for sixth place, but his hard charge with the best score of the day lifted him to his first career collegiate title. Brian Stark finished in a tie for third place at 6-under with North Carolina Greensboro's Kelvin Hernandez. Tommy Morrison finished in seventh with a 3-day score of 4-under.
Maas said he hit his tee shots pretty well and was able to "shorten" the course.
"That sets you up on this golf course," he said. "It's not too long if you hit most of the fairways. I was happy to keep it going."
He said if it wasn't for some shaky putting in the second round, he could have turned in an even lower score than he did Wednesday. He finished with a 67 on Tuesday after a 71 on Monday to open the tournament.
The Pretoria, South Africa, native said having the tournament at the Longhorns' home course is a big advantage since they know the finer points of how to navigate it. The team has built plenty of momentum with the latest big win. They won the Big 12 Conference tournament by 18 shots at Whispering Pines Golf Club in Trinity, Texas, and Maas said this win just gave them even more confidence heading into the NCAA championships, held May 24-29 at Omni La Costa in Carlsbad, California.
The top five teams advanced to the NCAA championships. Tennessee, the top-seeded team in the regional, finished second with Notre Dame in third, Utah finished fourth and Wake Forest beat BYU in a one-hole playoff to claim the last spot. Hernandez earned an individual spot in the NCAA tournament with his finish.