South Mountain wins 2019 NJCAA Division II men's golf title
South Mountain was the only team at the four-round 2019 NJCAA Division II Men's Golf Championship to shoot a sub-300 score in every round.
After improving their score in each and every of the four rounds, the Cougars claim the seventh national title in program history.
Early on, it wasn't always clear how successful the Cougars would be. Playing in an entirely different climate than their Phoenix, Arizona home presents, the Cougars trailed by two shots after a weather-altered first round. Second round play yielded little improvement in the standings as South Mountain trailed by six shots midway through the tournament to eventual second place Walters State.
But, the Cougars, who have two finalists for the 2019 NJCAA Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award in Leon D'Souza and Branden Meyer were able to lead the comeback charge before recording an astonishing team score of 279 on the final round. South Mountain ended up with a 19-stroke lead on second place.
Superlatives
Best individual round: It should be no surprise that the back-to-back medalist had the lowest round of the tournament. In his final round, D'Souza finished with a score of 67. Matthew Creighton (Scottsdale) and Branden Meyer (South Mountain) were the only other players in field to shoot for a one-round sub-70.
Best team round: Matching Mississippi Gulf Coast's 2018 final round mark to win the title, South Mountain also hit a 279, the lowest of the tournament.
Most eagles: Murray State, Mississippi Gulf Coast, and College of Lake County finished the four-day tournament with three recorded eagles.
Most birdies: South Mountain recorded a one-under par score on 56 holes this week. Meridian's Will Kidder recorded 18 himself to lead all individuals.
Finishing as the first back-to-back NJCAA Division II champion since Bert Smith of the former Waycross Junior College (Georgia) did so in 1992 and 1993, South Mountain's Leon D'Souza recorded a four round mark of 73-71-73-67 to win his second NJCAA medalist honor.
Repeat First Team All-Americans
While D'Souza repeated his individual medalist honor, three other players again earned First Team All-American status in their sophomore campaigns – a rare feat at the junior college level.
Mississippi Gulf Coast's Brice Wilkinson was one of three players to finish under par for the entire tournament with a score of 287 (-1). His third place finish is a several spot bump from this tied-sixth performance in the 2018 championship.
Parkland's Kristian Kristensen finished the week strong. After posting two rounds of 76 in the first two days, Kristensen concluded with a 73 and 71 respectively to crack into the last First Team spot. Kristensen finished tied for fourth in 2018.
Will Kidder finished as the top Meridian player for two straight years. A second round score of 80 effectively eliminated Kidder from medalist contention, but the sophomore still finishes his junior college career with First Team All-American honors.
By the numbers...
Golfers this week saved the best for last. Across the four rounds played, the field averaged its best mark on the final round – a 78.13 – well above 80.93, 80.46, and 81.05 in the first three rounds, respectively.
Hole No. 15 proved to be most favorable for the tournament. A par 5, golfers averaged 4.82 over four days. It was the only hole that athletes on average fared better than par on.
Another par 5, No. 4, turned out to be much more of a challenge. There were only 20 instances this week that a golfer finished under par on this it.
It was the first time since 2016 that any school won the team championship as well as had the individual medalist. South Mountain accomplished this sweep in both 2015 and 2016 as Connor Klein and Justin Warren took home medalist honors to accompany a team championship
All five Cougars this year finished in the top 25 individually as Branden Meyer finished fourth while teammate Jonathan Walters ended up eighth on the individual leaderboard, good for three NJCAA First Team All-Americans.
