Another 65 Gets Warian into NCAA Championships

Ben Warian made qualifying for the NCAA Championships look a lot easier than it really is this week.

The University of Minnesota senior from Stillwater shot a 5-under-par 65 in the NCAA Division I Stanford Regional on Monday at the Stanford Golf Course and backed it up with a 69 in Tuesday's second round. Had the regional ended then, after 36 holes, Warian's 134 total wouldn't have been good enough to get him into the NCAA Championships (May 24-29 at Omni La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, Calif.) without a playoff. That's how tough it is to qualify as an individual.

Five teams out of the 12 in each regional advance -- but only one individual. For an individual to advance, he has to beat the other six guys who are in the regional as individuals only, and he also has to beat the 35 guys from the teams that aren't advancing. In other words, he has to finish first in a field of 41 players.

You can finish second in a regional and not advance. It's a flawed format.

But Warian made it easily, thanks to his second 65 in three days on Wednesday -- and a 54-hole total of 199 (11 under).

As it turned out, he did finish second, tied for second actually. Max Herendeen of Illinois went wire to wire on his way to claiming medalist honors. The Big Ten freshman of the year from Bellevue, Wash., shot a 63 in the opening round and followed it with a 68 and a 66 for a 197 aggregate.

Herendeen was 1 under through nine holes on Wednesday, which put him at 10 under for the tournament. Warian for was also 10 under when he made the turn, after he birdied both par 5s and both par 3s on the front nine for an outgoing 31. But Herendeen birdied the 440-yard, par-4 10th hole, and Warian bogeyed the 10th and 11th (351). Warian made a sprint to the finish line with birdies at the 15th, 16th and 17th holes, but Herendeen capped off his 66 with birdies at the 14th and 16th. Those two late birdies turned out to be his margin of victory.

With his 199, Warian tied Florida State's Frederik Kjettrup and Texas A&M's Phichaksn Maichon. Kjettrup closed with a 67, Maichon with a 68. There was also three-way tie for fifth, at 200. Herendeen's Illinois teammate Tyler Goecke was part of it, and so was Kjettrup's FSU teammate Luke Clanton. Also at 200 was Stanford's Michael Thorbjornsen, who turned in the best score of the day, a 64.

But they didn't count against Warian in the competition for the individual only spot at the NCAA Championships, because they all play for teams that advanced.

Illinois had its streak of eight consecutive Big Ten Conference championships snapped this year, but the Illini were as good as ever in the regional. They had the low score of the day Monday (263) and Wednesday (271) and won the regional team title by eight strokes over second-place Florida State (804 to 812). Texas A&M was another eight behind in third place.

Of the 40 players that Warian needed to beat to get into the NCAA Championships, the closerst anyone came was five shots, and there were two of them. One was Pablo Ereno of UCLA, which finished seventh as a team. Ereno was tied with Warian after 36 holes. They were both at 134. But Ereno shot 70 on Wednesday and ended up tied for eighth at 204, along with Cameron Tankersley of Ole Miss, which ended up sixth as a team. Tankersley shot 67 on Wednesday.

Warian was the only player from Minnesota or with Minnesota connections to advance as an individual, but there are a couple of others who will be in Carlsbad with their teams. Nate Stevens is one of them. The former two-time state high school champion from Northfield contributed a 68 on Wednesday to Notre Dame's third-place finish in the Austin Regional, which was dominated by the host team from Texas. Stevens was 12th in the individual competition with a 212.

Carson Herron is a third-generation qualifier for the NCAA tournament. His grandfather, also Carson Herron, made it when he was playing for the Gophers in the early 1960s, and his father, Tim Herron, was in multiple NCAA tournaments in the early 1990s, before going on to play on the PGA Tour, where he won four times. He is now on the PGA Tour Champions. And this time, Carson Herron is going to the NCAA with New Mexico, which finished fifth in the West Lafayette Regional.


NCAA Regionals

Stanford Regional

At Stanford Golf Course

Par 70, 6,727 yards

Final results (the top five teams from each regional advances to the NCAA Championships, May 24-29 at Omni La Costa Ranch, along with the top individual not on an advancing team)

1. Max Herendeen, Illinois 63-68-66--197 (-13)

T2. Ben Warian, Minnesota 65-69-65--199* (earned the 1 avaiable spot in the NCAA Championship for an individual only)

T2. Frederik Kjettrup, Florida State 67-65-67--199

T2. Phichaksn Maichon, Texas A&M 66-65-68--199

T5. Luke Clanton, Florida State 65-66-69--200

T5. Tyler Goecke, Illinois 65-67-68--200

T5. Michael Thorbjornsen, Stanford 65-71-74--200

T8. Pablo Ereno, UCLA 68-66-70--204

T8. Cameron Tankersley, Ole Miss 69-68-67--204

T10. Cole Anderson, Florida State 66-67-72--205

T10. Daniel Rodrigues, Texas A&M 67-67-71--205

T10. Ryan Voois, Illinois 70-70-65--205


Team results

1. Illinois 263-270-271--804 (-36)

2. Flordia State 267-267-278--812

3. Texas A&M 271-268-282--821

T4. SMU 285-265-280--830

T4. Stanford 269-284-277--830

Did not qualify

6. OIe Miss 271-276-284--831



Austin Regional

At University of Texas Golf Club

Par 71, 7,399 yards

Final results

1. Christian Maas, Texas 71-67-66--204

2. Nathan Petronzio, Texas 67-69-69--205

T3. Brian Stark, Texas 68-68-71--207

T3. Kevin Hernandez, UNCG 67-72-68--207* (individual qualifier)

T5. Michael Brennan, W. Forest 67-68-73--208

T5. Bryce Lewis, Tennessee 67-71-70--208

T12. Nate Stevens, Notre Dame 73-71-68--212

Team results

1. Texas 273-273-279--825

2. Tennessee 276-280-285--841

3. Notre Dame 275-283-288--846

4. Utah 285-283-282--850

5. Wake Forest 289-281-284--854* (won playoff for fifth place and a spot the NCAA Championships)

6. Brigham Young 279-283-292--854

7. UNCG 288-285-290--863


West Lafayette Regional

At Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex

Kampen Course

Par 72, 7,461 yards

Final results

1. William Moll, Vanderbilt 70-69-70--209

T2. Gordeon Sargent, Vanderbilt 67-72-71--210

T2. Bastien Amat, New Mexico 71-72-67--210

T4. Cameron Hussk, Wisconsin 66-74-71--211* (won playoff with birdie on the fifth hole to be individual qualifier)

T4. Owen Stamper, Middle Tenn. St. 75-68-68--211

T23. Caleb VanArragon, Valpo 74-71-72--217

T65. Carson Herron, New Mexico 79-71-81--231

Team results

1. Vanderbilt 277-277-280--840

2. Purdue 284-277-292--853

3. Florida 289-285-294--860

4. Arizona 283-284-294--861

5. New Mexico 290-283-289--862


Racho Santa Fe Regional

At The Farms Club

Par 70, 6,962 yards

Final results

1. Ben Lorenz, Oklahoma 69-69-64--202 (-8)

T2. Sampson Zheng, California 66-69-71--206

T2. Andi Xu, San Diego 71-67-68--206* (individual qualifier)

T4. Neil Gabrelck North Florida 68-69-71--208

T4. Jonas Baumgartner, Oklahoma 69-69-70--208

T25. Cecil Belisle, Kansas 75-72-68--215

T61. Gunnar Broin, Kansas 77-74-77--228



Team results

1. Oklahoma 284-284-269--837

2. California 280-284-279--843

T3. West Virginia 285-280-280--845

T3. Oklahoma State 278-288-279--845

5. North Florida 277-286-287--850

11. Kansas 297-298-288-883