Yahoo Sports Upsets galore, all four lower seeds advance to NCAA Men’s Golf Championship semifinals
CARLSBAD, Calif. — It was a quick turnaround for the eight teams who advanced into the 2024 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship match play.
Early Tuesday morning, teams returned to Omni La Costa’s North Course and began quarterfinal matches. Four ACC teams made match play, including a rematch of the ACC Championship. Then the top two teams from the country in the SEC faced off with a chance to play each other in the semifinals if they won.
Here’s a recap of Tuesday morning’s NCAA match play quarterfinals and a look ahead at Tuesday afternoon’s semifinal pairings. Every team that makes match play semifinals qualifies for the East Lake Cup in the fall.
NCAA: Best photos from Omni La Costa
Quarterfinal results
Georgia Tech 3, Illinois 1
The curse of the top overall seed? Only one No. 1 seed (Oklahoma State in 2018) has won stroke play and then won match play. Illinois, which won stroke play by 16 shots, is out after Tuesday morning’s 3-1 defeat. Aidan Tran, Christo Lamprecht’s replacement, won 3 and 2, and individual champion Hiroshi Tai clinched the match with a stellar approach into the par-3 16th green that resulted in a tap-in birdie.
Florida State 3, North Carolina 1
Florida State had lost in match play its last three chances against North Carolina, but not Tuesday morning. The Seminoles took down the ACC Champs 3-1 behind victories from Brett Roberts, Luke Clanton and Tyler Weaver, who was subbed in and played for the first time this week Tuesday morning.
Ohio State 3, Vanderbilt 1
Adam Wallin was two shots down sitting on the 17th tee to Gordon Sargent, the second-ranked golfer in the world. The senior at Ohio State won the next three holes, knocking off the second seed and No. 2 team in the country to help Ohio State advance to the semis. Neal Shipley and Jackson Chandler also picked up wins.
Auburn 3, Virginia 1
It came down to Jackson Koivun, and the best player in college golf this year delivered. The 2024 Haskins Award winner buried a birdie on the 18th hole to help the top-ranked (but sixth-seeded) Tigers top Virginia 3-1 to advance into the semifinals. Carson Bacha and Josiah Gilbert were the other Auburn players to get a point.
Semifinal matchups
No. 5 Florida State vs. No. 8 Georgia Tech
Cole Anderson vs. Bartley Forrester (4:15 p.m. ET, 1st tee)
Tyler Weaver vs. Kale Fontenot (4:25 p.m. ET)
Luke Clanton vs. Aidan Tran (4:35 p.m. ET)
Gray Albright vs. Carson Kim (4:45 p.m. ET)
Frederik Kjettrup vs. Hiroshi Tai (4:55 p.m. ET)
No. 6 Auburn vs. No. 7 Ohio State
TBD vs. TBD (5:05 p.m. ET, 1st tee)
TBD vs. TBD (5:15 p.m. ET)
TBD vs. TBD (5:25 p.m. ET)
TBD vs. TBD (5:35 p.m. ET)
TBD vs. TBD (5:45 p.m. ET)
