For the second straight year and the 11th time during head coach Mike Mayer’s tenure, Indiana men’s golf has earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Men’s Golf Tournament. Regional play will take place from May 15-18.
The Hoosiers were placed in the Palm Beach Gardens Regional as the No. 10 seed. There are 14 teams in the regional, headlined by top-seeded Vanderbilt University. The top-five teams from each region will advance to the NCAA Championships, which will be played May 27 to June 1 at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.
“We are thrilled,” Mayer said. “We are excited to go down to the PGA National Resort. It is truly a championship golf course that we know very well. If we go down there and play to our potential, we will have a good chance to make it to the finals.”
Indiana has never made it to the NCAA Finals with Mayer as head coach. The Hoosiers’ best finish in a regional in that span was in the 2010-11 season, when they tied for eighth. Last season, the team finished ninth in the regional round.
The Hoosiers are coming off of a ninth-place finish at the Big Ten Championships. With the result, Indiana was projected to be right on the bubble for a postseason bid. A lack of upsets in the other conference tournaments helped Indiana receive one of the many at-large bids that were handed out.
Mayer said the selection committee looks at quality of wins, trends and records against top-25 teams, among other stats.
“We need to reset and get to work,” Mayer said.
Juniors Noah Gillard and Eric Berggren suffered arm and wrist injuries, respectively, a few weeks ago and are not expected to return in time, according to Mayer. Fifth-year senior Ethan Shepherd and senior Harry Reynolds have seen more time in the Hoosiers’ starting lineup as a result, and could be in line for another appearance.
