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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Washington senior RJ Manke finished in a tie for 15th place at the 2022 NCAA Men’s Golf Championships, shooting a 3-over 73 in the fourth round Monday, to finish 6-over for the 72-hole tournament.
Manke’s performance tied for the ninth-best individual finish at the NCAA Championships in Washington history, and the best since 2015, when Cheng-Tsung Pan, 2020 Olympic bronze medalist and current PGA Tour player, finished second.
Windy conditions at Grayhawk Golf Club made scoring difficult as no player finished with a four-day total under par. In fact, four players tied for the individual lead at even-par for the tournament. Vanderbilt’s Gordon Sargent won the four-man playoff to earn medalist honors, making his first birdie of the day on the first playoff hole.
“I just cannot express how proud I am of RJ,” said UW head coach Alan Murray. “This is a brutal test of golf and requires extreme skill and copious amounts of patience, and RJ displayed both in abundance this week.”
Manke, a fifth-year senior transfer from Lakewood, Wash., completed one of the best seasons in UW history. The 2022 Pac-12 Men’s Golfer of the Year, he won two individual titles during the 2021-22 season, while finishing in the top-5 nine times. Of his 44 rounds as a Husky, he was under par in 27, while shooting in the 60s 21 times.
Manke’s season-ending stroke average of 69.32 is a new school record, breaking the mark of 69.89, set by Pan in 2015.
“He is so surgical in how he plays a golf course, and his attitude to the game and to life is really something to behold,” Murray continued. “He will go down as one of the best Huskies in history, and I am just sad we only had him for one year.”
Monday, Manke began his round on the 10th and made par on his first five holes. On No. 15, he nearly holed a 146-yard wedge shot, but was able to tap in from three feet for his first birdie of the afternoon. After a bogey on No. 16, he made par on the next five in a row before a bogey-6 on the par-5 fourth hole.
Two holes later, a double-bogey on No. 6 moved him to 3-over for the day and 6-over for the tournament, which was still good for a tie for 14th, with just…
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