COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Penn State men’s golf team’s season came to an end on Wednesday as the Nittany Lions placed sixth in the Columbus NCAA Regional. The Nittany Lions posting a team total of 25-over-par at the Ohio State Golf Club and missed qualifying for the national championship by one spot.
“There are not many words for coming up one place short of qualifying for the NCAA Finals,” said Penn State head coach Greg Nye. “We dug a big hole early today, but our great final nine holes showed pride and grit. I’m proud of their effort and sportsmanship at the close of competition after a very tough loss.”
Senior Cole Miller (New Tripoli, Pa.) closed out his Penn State career with a vengeance, birdying his final four holes and playing bogey-free golf over his final 16 holes. He carded a final round 2-under 69 to move to 3-over for the regional and finish in a tie for 16th.
Miller is now the program’s all-time career scoring leader at 72.11, passing Kevin Foley’s (2006-10) previous mark of 72.90. He also led the team in scoring average in 2017-18, posting an average of 70.97 in his senior campaign.
Junior JD Hughes (Carlisle, Pa.) finished the regional in 18th place at 4-over after shooting 1-over 72 in his final round and junior Charles Huntzinger (Duluth, Ga.) played his second nine at 3-under to shoot 2-over 73 in round three. Huntzinger placed in a tie for 28th at 8-over for the regional.
Sophomore Ryan Davis played his final round at 4-over 75 to move to 10-over for the regional to finish in a tie for 34th.
The region’s No. 1 team seed, Oklahoma State, was the wire-to-wire winner of the regional as it was the only team to play under-par for the week. The Cowboys were 8-under par to hold off Illinois, which finished even-par for the regional.
An individual qualifier, Kyle Mueller of Michigan, was the regional medalist after carding a final round 5-under 66 to finish at 5-under-par for the regional.