Central Alabama propels to NJCAA DI men's title behind strong late rounds
Clinching its seventh national title in program history did not come easy for Central Alabama. Midway through the 2019 NJCAA DI Men's Golf Championship, the Trojans sat in fourth place and trailed the leader Indian Hills by 12 strokes.
Led by a trio of top five finishers, the Trojans pulled within one stroke of the leader with a team round score of 273 on Thursday. Early on in the fourth and final round, Central Alabama climbed to the top spot of the leaderboard and wouldn't look back, completing the round eight under par.
Title contenders at the start of the final day, defending champion Indian Hills along with then-third place New Mexico Junior College finished the final day six over par, knocking both teams out of contention late.
The Trojans' seven titles are the most by any NJCAA Division I team since the split in 1990. All-time they only trail the nine titles earned by Scottsdale and Odessa.
Superlatives
Best individual round: New Mexico's Andrew Ni shot a 65 on Thursday, proving to be the best individual round of the championship. That score included an eagle and five birdies on the round.
Best team round: Indian Hills recorded a 270 on the second day of action, propelling the Warriors into a four-shot lead at the midway point of the championship.
Most eagles: Eastern Florida State wrapped up the four-day championship with four eagles. On the individual level, Ranger's Brandon Geere recorded three.
Most birdies: Central Alabama finished a shot under par 79 times over the week. NJCAA medalist Callum Bruce (Midland) recorded 22 of his own this week.
Callum Bruce finishes as a two-time NJCAA First Team All-American, posting back-to-back top five finishes. Bruce posted sub-70 rounds on all four days of the championship to reach his total of 271.
Three on First Team
Central Alabama landed three First Team All-Americans. That's the first time a team has done that since Odessa two years ago.
Jack Poole led the way for the Trojans. Poole recorded a second round 66 and third round 67 split between a beginning and ending round 71.
Owen Burt recorded a 71 on each of the first two rounds before closing with a 71 in the last two days.
In a three-way tie for fifth, Caleb O'Toole still qualifies as a First Team NJCAA All-American. O'Toole earned Honorable Mention honors a year ago, but with a four-day total of 281, it's a sweet end to his NJCAA career.
By the numbers...
No. 11 was a player favorite. Listed as a par five hole, players recorded an Eagle 19 times this week, while 179 birdies were scored.
On the contrary, No. 18 provided a challenge to the end of each round. Players only beat the par four 27 times, with an average score of 4.75.
Despite the rain delay on the first day of action, Tuesday provided the best scores of the tournament with a 74.82 average on the round.
Despite falling short on the final day of competition of winning their seventh NJCAA golf title, Indian Hills finished in the top two for the fifth time in the last six years.
The Warriors were led by George Clarke who finished with a four-day total of 281, good for fifth place and a First Team All-American honor.
