Illinois Takes No. 1 Seed in NCAA, by 16 Shots; Tai Is Medalist; Warian Is T25

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- After winning eight consecutive Big Ten Conference golf championships, Illinois finished second to Northwestern this spring by 15 shots. That seemed to wake the Illini up, because the next time out, they won the NCAA Stanford Regional by eight shots, and on Monday they completed their conquest of the stroke-play portion of the NCAA Championships by 16 shots.

The individual championship went to Georgia Tech sophomore Hiroshi Tai, who had medalist honors in his back pocket with two holes to play. At that point, he was 4 under par through 16 holes at the Omni La Costa North Course. But he came up short at the 203-yard, par-3 eighth hole (he started at No. 10), and his ball ended up in a fried-egg lie in the front bunker. From there, he skulled the next shot 40 or 50 yards over the green, and by the time he got the ball in the cup, he had a triple-bogey 6.

After a wayward tee shot at the par-4 ninth, he came up 50 yards short with his second shot, but he hit a nifty wedge shot to 4 feet and made the putt for par. That was the difference, as it gave him a 1-under-par 71 and a 72-hole total of 285 (3 under). That was good enough for a one-stroke victory -- over the six players who tied for second. Among those who shared the runner-up spot were the No. 1 player in the NCAA Division I Rankings, Florida State sophomore Luke Clanton, and the No. 3, Auburn freshman Jackson Koivun. Both Clanton and Koivun are finalists for this year's Nicklaus Award for the college player of the year.

Clanton missed mulitple putts from close range Monday on his way to a closing 71. Koivun needed a birdie on his last hole, the 426-yard, par-4 ninth (he, too, started on the 10th hole), and his approach should have given him a relatively short putt for a 3 -- except that the ball clanked off the pin and caromed backwards into a bunker in front of the green. From there, he blasted to a couple of feet and made the putt for a par. Like Clanton, Koivun shot 71 on Monday, finished at 286, and that was one too many.

Another of the second-place finishers was Gordon Sargent, who won the NCAA individual title two years ago, when he was a freshman at Vanderbilt. He missed a couple of short birdie putts in the middle of his round, then hit a couple of loose shots and made consecutive bogeys at the 245-yard, par-3 12th hole and the 426-yard, par-4 13th. But he was still only one behind Tai going to the 605-yard, par-5 18th. After hitting his drive into the rough just a few feet from a hazard, he laid up, then hit a wedge shot to 6 feet and lipped out his putt for the birdie that he needed to tie Tai.

Ben James of Virginia got to minus 5 for the tournament with a birdie at the par-3 eighth, but proceeded to bogey three of the next four holes and wound up with a 73. That put him in the Gang of Six at 286.

The two other players who finished in the tie for second were both from Illinois -- freshman Max Herendeen and grad student Tyler Goecke. Herendeen, who was the medalist at the Stanford Regional, was two behind Tai for most of his last nine Monday and made a birdie at the 18th to join the group at 286. Goecke had a bad tournament this spring shortly before the Big Ten was wasn't in the Illinois lineup for the runner-up finish at the Big Ten. He returned to the lineup for the regional and tied for fifth. On Monday, he, like Herendeen, made a birdie at the 18th to get his share of second place.

There was a three-way tie for eighth at 287. All three of the players involved -- Ohio State's Adam Wallin, Stanford's Karl Vilips and Notre Dame's Palmer Jackson -- were in position at one time or another as they came down the stretch to claim the individual championship. Wallin, who was the 54-hole leader, was 2 under for his round -- and 7 under for the tournament -- after he birdied the two front-nine par 5s, No. 2 (622 yards) and No. 6 (581). But then he bogeyed the par-3 eighth and doubled the par-4 ninth.

Despite that, he was back to minus 5 after he birdied the par-5 10th, but then he made not one, but two more doubles at the 11th and 12th holes, which put him at 1 under. He parred in from there for a 76.

Vilips, who was the 36-hole leader, by five, shot 76 on Sunday, but he was still tied for the lead with Tai, at minus 3, after he birdied the 10th. (Tai finished an hour and a half ahead of the last group.) He parred the next four holes, but bogeyed both the 15th and the 16th and shot 74.

As for Jackson, who was trying to become the first Notre Dame player to win an individual championship in golf, he was 4 under for the round and tied with Tai at minus 3 overall after he birdied the par-5 sixth (581), his 15th hole. Then he bogeyed the seventh and eighth and ended up with a 70.

A player who was sort of lurking in the background for the first three days was Minnesota's Ben Warian, the lefty senior from Stillwater by way of Hill-Murray High School. He was Mr. Consistent for the first three rounds, shootiing 72-72-72, and making 16 pars, one birdie and one bogey in each of the second and third rounds. That had him tied for 12th, and still within sight of first. But Monday was a different story. He made seven pars, four birdies, six bogeys and a double. When all of that was added up, he had a 76 and finished in a tie for 25th at 292.

Nevertheless, by making it through the NCAA regional as an individual, which is really hard to do, and then making the 54-hole cut in Carlsbad, Warian probably assured himself of some sort of All-American designation, at least honorable mention and quite possibly something higher.

Getting back to the tournament, if the people who run the NCAA really wanted to give the championship trophy to the best team, they would have given it to the Illini on Monday. After all, they beat second-place Vanderbilt, the No. 2 team in the current rankings, by 16 shots, and they beat No. 1 Auburn, which finished sixth in stroke play, by 25! That should have been the end of the tournament, and both the individual and team championship trophies could have been handed out -- the way they used to be. But the Golf Channel likes the drama -- and TV ratings -- that match play can produce, and the PGA Tour doesn't play on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. So the NCAA tournament will be stretched out for another two days of televised match play (only one day of stroke play was televised), and on Tuesday morning, top-seeded Illinois will play the No. 8 seed, Georgia Tech, in the quarterfinal round.


NCAA Men's Division I Championships

At Omni La Costa North Course

Par 72, 7,538 yards

Carlsbad, Calif.

Final stroke-play results (the top 8 teams advance to the match-play portion, which begins Tuesday morning)

1. Illinois 293-287-282-284--1146

2. Vanderbilt 297-286-290-289--1162

T3. Virginia 290-287-291-295--1163

T3. North Carolina 291-296-292-284--1163

5. Florida State 299-289-286-290--1164

6. Auburn 293-293-293-292--1171

7. Ohio State 294-294-289-297--1174

8. Georgia Tech 292-301-292-292--1177

9. Oklahoma 301-302-286-289--1178

10. Tennessee 305-292-294-289--1180

11. Florida 295-302-287-297--1181

12. E. Tennessee S. 296-297-298-291--1182

13. Texas 296-301-292-296--1183

14. Baylor 297-299-292-301--1189

15. Arizona 290-298-298-308--1193

Did not make the 54-hole cut

T23. Notre Dame 296-305-306--907

27. New Mexico 299-306-307--912


Individuals (*-indicates players who made the cut as individuals)

1. Hiroshi Tai, Georgia Tech 67-77-70-71--285 (-3)

T2. Tyler Goecke, Illinois 73-73-69-71--286

T2. Gordon Sargent, Vanderbilt 75-69-70-72--286

T2. Max Herendeen, Illinois 73-70-71-72--286

T2. Ben James, Virginia 73-71-69-73--286

T2. Jackson Koivun, Auburn 71-72-72-71--286

T2. Luke Clanton, Florida State 71-72-72-71--286

T8. Adam Wallin, Ohio State 68-74-69-76--287

T8. Karl Vilips, Stanford 69-68-76-74--287*

T8. Palmer Jackson, Notre Dame 77-68-72-70--287

T25. Ben Warian, Minnesota 72-72--72-76--292*

Missed the 54-hole cut -- 220

T136. Nate Stevens, Notre Dame 78-82-77--237

T141. Carson Herron, N. Mexico 86-75-79--240