Kennesaw State will be Georgia’s lone representative at the NCAA men’s golf championships.
The Owls battled windy conditions to finish second at the College Grove (Tenn.) Regional, two shots behind Central Florida and tied with No. 2-ranked Vanderbilt and Clemson. It’s the best finish for the program at a regional qualifier and puts the Owls in the national championships for the third time.
Kennesaw State’s top performer was Christopher Guglielmo, who finished two shots behind Lipscomb’s Dawson Armstrong. It was the best showing by an Owl since Jimmy Beck tied for fourth at the 2015 Chapel Hill Regional.
“It feels pretty awesome,” Guglielmo said. “It doesn’t get any bigger than that in college golf, and we’ll see how it goes from there.”
Kennesaw State’s Jake Fendt tied for ninth, and Pablo Rodriguez-Tabernero Torres tied for 17th.
Georgia’s other teams weren’t as successful. Georgia Tech missed qualifying by one shot, placing sixth at the Stanford Regional. Augusta finished sixth at the West Lafayette Regional, missing by three shots. Georgia State was ninth at the Baton Rouge Regional. Georgia finished 10th at the College Grove Regional. Georgia Southern tied for 11th at the Austin Regional.
The NCAA Championships will be held outside Chicago at Rich Harvest Farms and conclude May 31.
Savannah gets Web.com event: The Savannah Golf Championship will make its debut on the Web.Com Tour next spring. The tournament will be played at The Landings Club's Deer Creek Golf Course on March 26-April 1. The course was built by Tom Fazio in 1991 and modernized in 2009 and plays in and out of forests and around marsh wetlands.
Georgia hasn’t hosted a Web.Com Tour event since the South Georgia Classic ended in 2014. Savannah Harbor hosted the Champions Tour’s Legends of Golf from 2003-13 before it moved to Missouri.
Denham wins Georgia Mid-Am: Former University of Georgia player David Denham shot 14-under 202 and won the Georgia State Golf Associations Mid-Amateur Championship at Cartersville Country Club. Denham, the 2004 Georgia Amateur champion and member of UGA's 2005 NCAA championship team, beat David Noll Jr. of Dalton by two shots.
Eight qualify for U.S. Open sectional: Amateur Jason Dejiacomo of Big Canoe, a former player at Berry College, shot 66 and won Georgia's second U.S. Open local qualifier at Stone Mountain to secure a place in the sectional qualifier June 5.
Others who qualified were Michael Pisciotta of Georgia Tech, Harrison Stewart of Georgia College, and professionals Blake Palmer, Trey Rule, Nicholas Reach, Ted Moon and Jaylon Ellison.
Etc.: Legacy Golf Links in Smyrna has reopened its range after a fire damaged its clubhouse April 18. The course was unaffected by the fire. The course is offering special deals the day after the Braves win a home game for fans who have a ticket stub. Information is available at LegacyFoxCreek.com. … Caroline Craig of Sautee Nacoochee was a finalist for the USGA-American Junior Golf Association Leadership Award. … Covington-based Bridgestone Golf has signed LPGA player Cheyenne Woods to a multi-year agreement to represent the company. She will play the Tour B330-RX ball. … A few spots remain for the open qualifier for the Dogwood Invitational at Druid Hills Golf Club on June 28. The top eight finishers earn a spot in the tournament, June 28-July 1.
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