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To an outsider, the NCAA West/Central Regional Championship appeared to be a success for the Sonoma State men's golf team, as they sealed their spot in the NCAA Championships by finishing tied for second in the tournament and saw senior, Jarin Todd place first individually.
However, the team blew a nine stroke lead on the last day of the Regional, which was held last week at Par-71 Wilderness Ridge Golf Club in Lincoln, Nebraska, and head coach, Val Verhunce thought that the team could have scored better than the +14 866 (284-285-297) that they carded overall.
"Obviously we did not play good enough to win," said Verhunce, "we played well enough to move on to the NCAA Championships, but I didn't like how we played personally."
When asked why he was not happy with the team's performance, Verhunce mentioned both the team's decision making and their preparation for the event.
"It was a little bit of that (not making smart decisions that would limit the team's mistakes), and also a lack of preparation on their part I thought," said Verhunce.
"I thought they could have done a better job of preparing themselves for the tournament."
SSU needed to finish in the top five in both the West Regional (the tournament that they were playing in) and the Central Regional (which was being played at the same time at Wilderness Ridge) in order to advance to the Championships, which will be played from May 19-22 at Loomis Trails Country Club in Blaine, Washington.
The team, which won the tournament last year, led Colorado-Colorado Springs by five strokes after the first round with a 284 (four of the five players' for each team's scores were tallied for each day) and had a nine stroke lead over Cal State Stanislaus after the second round of shooting a 285.
SSU's score (a 297) increased dramatically on day three though (a round that was temporarily suspended after it began due to a rain delay) and the team ended up being overtaken by Colorado-Colorado Springs, who shot a 284 on Wednesday and finished the tournament with a +11 863.
"I thought they played pretty well up until the last round after the rain delay," said former SSU golfer, Benz Petprasert of the team's performance, "the course might have gotten tougher for them or they may have been affected by the wait."
Cal State Stanislaus tied SSU for second with an 866. The two other teams that advanced to the championships are CSU San Bernardino (875) and Grand Canyon University (888), which finished in fourth and fifth place respectively.
The two-time NCAA Player of the Year, Todd won the individual part of the tournament by five strokes with a -5 208 (66-67-75) total.
Todd, a senior, won four tournaments as an individual during his sophomore season and three last year, and won one tournament earlier this October.
He changed his swing this season in order to prepare for a pro career after the championships.
"I think he's more comfortable now," said Verhunce about Todd playing with his new swing, "he's not as distracted as far as his swing. I think he's ready to go now."
Coming in second for the Seawolves was Patrick Bauer with a 212 (73-67-72), followed by Jarin's brother Janssen Todd with a 222 (72-75-75), Ryan Carter with a 230 (73-82-75) and Tyler Schmuckle with a 246 (86-76-84).
The Seawolves' lineup for the championships will be the same with the exception of the fifth spot, where junior, Spencer Shishido will play in place of the fellow junior, Schmuckle.
Verhunce said that the team should get in at least three practice rounds before it leaves for Washington later this week, as many of the players who will be playing in the championships will attempt to qualify for the U.S. Open on Tuesday at Mayacama Golf Club where they will play two rounds.
When it comes to the championships, Verhunce said that Loomis Trails' bent grass will not be as different to the team as the Bermuda grass that they faced last year in the championships at Houston's Memorial Park Golf Course where it placed sixteenth out of 20 teams.
He also said that the team will have to make smart decisions in order to play well at the event.
"We're not going to be able to hit every fairway and green (at Loomis Trails)," said Verhunce, "so a big thing is going to be to minimize the result from a scoring standpoint. In my honest opinion, where we have trouble is when we make a mistake; it takes a certain level of patience and discipline to not try to overcome it with just one shot, and to instead be patient and start over again when you go to the next hole."
It should help the Seawolves that they played at Loomis Trails last September for the NCAA Nationals Preview, in which they placed second out of twenty teams.
According to Verhunce, the team will need to score well from the top to the bottom of their lineup in order to be successful in the championships.
"All five players need to be in a position to contribute," said Verhunce, "there needs to be consistency amongst the whole lineup in order for us to win. We can't win the team title off of Jarin, and I think we showed that in the Regional. The last day of the Regional Todd and Bauer didn't play poorly, but the others didn't come through when we needed them to."
"They have to stay in their game and not get ahead of themselves," added Petprasert. "They need to stay in the moment."
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