The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s golf team’s avenue to The Honors Course continues next week with a flight to San Diego.
The Mocs were given an at-large berth and the seventh seed in the Southwest Regional to be played May 20-22 at Carlton Oaks Golf Club.
The top five teams from each of the six regionals, as well as the low individual not on one of those teams, will compete for the NCAA championship June 1-6 at the Honors in Ooltewah.
“There is pressure because the regional feels like you’re trying to get through it, but the added part of getting back to Chattanooga can be tough,” UTC coach Mark Guhne said. “We have to put that out of our mind. If we can get through the regional, I think we can do pretty well.
“A lot of people want to see us playing here, and we’d like to represent Chattanooga in our own back yard.”
UTC could have been seeded higher if it had performed up to its standards at the Southern Conference tournament. But the Mocs, now ranked No. 39 by GolfWeek, finished in seventh place after winning the SoCon automatic bid the previous three years. Last year, they advanced from a regional and finished 18th in the NCAA championships at Inverness.
This season, the SoCon tournament is the biggest blemish on UTC’s tournament resume, which includes a win at the Cleveland Golf Palmetto Intercollegiate and three second-place finishes including the Carpet Capital Collegiate.
“At the SoCon we never seemed to bounce back, and hopefully that’s motivation to put our head down and get the job done,” Guhne said. “Our season has been up down, but the guys know they’re good.”
Chattanooga-area high school golf programs are well-represented with teams in the NCAA regionals: Harris English, Georgia — College Station, TexasJay Vandeventer, Tennessee — San DiegoWill Snipes, Vanderbilt — New Haven, Conn.Ryan Thornton, Vanderbilt — New Haven, Conn.Jacob Everts, Virginia Tech — South Bend, Ind.Hunter Green, Matt Emery, MTSU — Bremerton, Wash.Paul Apyan, Southern Miss (individual) — San Diego
Oregon is the top seed in San Diego, followed in order by UNLV, Augusta State, Tennessee, San Diego State and Cal.
“It’s a tough field,” Guhne said. “Getting into the top five is going to be tough. We’re going to have to play the way we know how.”
Top-ranked Oklahoma State is the No. 1 seed at the Capital City Club in Alpharetta, Ga. Defending champion Texas A&M is the top seed in the South Regional, which will be played at the Aggies’ home course.
Stanford, Washington, UCLA and Oregon are the other four top seeds.
Georgia is the No. 3 seed in the South Regional. Alabama is the No. 5 seed and Vanderbilt the No. 10 in the Northeast. Middle Tennessee State is the No. 7 seed in the Northwest.
Guhne will go with the same lineup he took to the SoCon championships — barring an unforeseen situation — which includes seniors Derek Rende, Fredrik Qvicker and J.T. Clendenin.
“They go in there knowing what to expect and what it’s all about,” Guhne said. “Hopefully they can go in there and lead us. Derek and Freddy are playing in their fourth regional, so they know what’s coming.”