SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — After 54 holes of stroke play, the field of 30 teams at the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship is now 15 (well, 16; more on that in a bit) after Sunday evening’s cut.
Illinois is out in front after a second straight under-par round, sitting at 6 under. Pepperdine, after its Grayhawk record-breaking Sunday, moved into second and is three shots back.
Then there’s Florida, North Carolina and Georgia Tech all within three shots of one another before a big drop off to Stanford, which had the second-lowest round Sunday, in sixth.
And Monday morning, there will be a playoff for the final spot. That’s why we’re not quite down to the 15 who will officially advance.
By Monday evening, the top eight teams remaining after the final round of stroke play will make match play, which begins Tuesday morning.
Golfweek/Sagarin rankings: Men’s team | Men’s individual
NCAA Leaderboard: Team | Individual | Photos
Meet the teams who made the first cut at Grayhawk.
It’s hard to imagine Illinois being in a better position to make match play. The Illini have played almost flawlessly through the first three days. Being so far in front of the eight-team cut line (currently 13 over), it would be hard to imagine not seeing Illinois make match play. Adrien Dumont de Chassart (4 under), Jackson Buchanan (3 under) and Tommy Kuhl (2 under) lead the way.
NCAA Championship | Round 3@adrienddc closes out a 70 and leads the way for the Illini in a tie for 4th at -4 overall.
Afternoon wave on the course now.
Live scoring ⤵️
📊: https://t.co/fx0WrOanmt#Illini // #HTTO // #NCAAGol pic.twitter.com/dhygiNqgJj— Illinois Men’s Golf (@IlliniMGolf) May 28, 2023
A wave crashed upon Grayhawk on Sunday, with Pepperdine carding a 11-under 269 to move up three spots and position itself to make match play for the third straight year at Grayhawk. Pepperdine won the title in 2021 and made the semifinals last year, however, it shouldn’t be a shock to see the Waves contending again come Wednesday.
The Waves have led the field in birdies so far this tournament, having amassed 53 as a team.
The 11-under 269 sets a Pepperdine program record for lowest 18-hole score at an NCAA Championships.
The previous record was a 9-under 271 at the 2021 Championships.
— Pepperdine Men’s Golf (@PeppGolf) May 28, 2023
Florida played in the morning wave during the third round for the first…
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