The Boilermakers fired a 54-hole total of 9-over par 873 (288-295-290) to move from three shots outside the cutline after two rounds to safely above the cutline, finishing fourth to reach the National Championships for the second straight season.
Purdue entered the final day in sixth place, seven shots behind third-place New Mexico State, five shots behind UCLA, three shots behind Georgia Tech and one ahead of SMU. Purdue quickly passed New Mexico State midway through the front nine and then moved past Georgia Tech late in the round to finish fourth, one shot ahead of the Yellow Jackets and six shots clear of sixth-place SMU.
Auburn, the No. 1-ranked team in the country, finished first at 32-under par on its home course and was followed by Texas A&M (-5) and UCLA (+6) in third place.
“We’re obviously really excited to make it back to Nationals after making it last year and not playing as well as we had hoped. And I think the guys saw it as redemption from a poor outing at the Big Ten Championships. The guys knew they were better than they showed in Baltimore and they got back together with the goal of advancing and played some great golf to make it through,” said head coach Andrew Sapp, who leads his third team to the National Championships after leading both Michigan and North Carolina to college golf’s premier event.
The Boilermakers again posted a consistent round, with all four counting scores between 72 and 74. Purdue recorded the third-best round of the day and was one of just three schools to have three players shoot even-par or better in the final round.
“We met last night and we knew our focus would be fairways and greens as simple as it sounds. Pars were going to be really good today with the pressure and getting the putter in your hand as soon as possible was going to enable us to shoot a good score,” Sapp added. “We got off to a great start today and although it got harder near the end, we made some really clutch pars to pass Georgia Tech and hold off SMU.”
A freshman and senior paced the Boilermakers all weekend, highlighted by 15th-place finishes by rookie Supapon Amornchaichan and the veteran Nels Surtani.
Amornchaichan, who entered the Regionals with just two top-15 showings this season, finished tied for 15th at 1-over par 217 (72-73-72). He played all 54…
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