By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla. -- Completing a tremendous career for the Bearcats, Willamette University golfer Austin Davis (Sr., Culver City, CA/Culver City HS) finished in a tie for 10th place as the 2022 NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championship concluded on Friday, May 13 at the Mission Inn Resort and Club. Davis registered a 2-over par 74 in the fourth round to end the tournament with a 72-hole score of 293 (72-73-74-74).
The final round for Davis on the El Campeon course included two birdies and just three holes where he shot over par. He was 3-over par for a 38 on the front nine and ended the day with a 1-under par 36 on the back nine.
Davis' tie for 10th place is the top individual finish for a Willamette golfer at an NCAA Championship tournament. The previous top finish was recorded by teammate Andrew Kibbee (Sr., Kenmore, WA/Bothell HS), who tied for 15th place at the 2021 NCAA Championship last spring. Davis earned a top 40 finish for the third time after tying for 24th in 2019 and tying for 40th in 2021.
"Austin played pretty solid all week," Willamette Head Men's Golf Coach Patrick Daugherty said. "His short game was phenomenal, and he made a lot of mid-range par putts that kept him in it. He just didn't have a lot of birdies fall.
"We are obviously incredibly proud of Austin for his tie for 10th overall finish," Daugherty continued. "It's quite an accomplishment. It seems like we have been breaking records for a while now, and this is just another one to highlight."
Andrew Chi of Methodist University (N.C.), who entered Friday's round in first place, carded his third consecutive round of 70 to win the NCAA Division III individual title by two strokes at 282 (73-70-70-70). Will Hocker from Webster University (Mo.) shot his second 70 in a row to take second place overall at 285 (71-74-70-70). A tie for third place was shared by Nick Rubino of Hampden-Sydney College (Va.) and JF Aber from Wittenberg University (Ohio) at 286. Rubino shot 71-71-74-70, while Aber shot 70-75-69-72. Grant Gronka from Huntingdon College (Ala.) grabbed fifth place at 289 (69-73-75-72).
Three golfers tied for sixth with scores of 291. The players involved in the tie were Pierce Robinson (75-75-71-70) from Washington and Lee University (Va.), Cole Jahnke (72-74-72-73) from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and Scott Boyajian (75-69-74-73) of Aurora University (Ill.). Will Parker of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.) held ninth place at 292 (74-74-68-76).
Davis tied for 10th at 293 with Trevor Elliott from Hampden-Sydney and Cooper Hrabak of Methodist. Davis carded 72-73-74-74, while Elliott shot 74-74-72-73 and Hrabak registered 70-75-75-73. Three additional golfers -- Henry Angier from Methodist, Jason Folker from Carnegie Mellon University (Pa.), and Jackson Rothwell of Babson College (Mass.) -- tied for 13th place with scores of 294. Angier shot 72-69-74-79, Folker recorded 75-72-74-73), and Rothwell carded 72-72-78-72.
Methodist won the NCAA Division III team championship with a 72-hole score of 1168 (292-289-292-295), as the Monarchs prevailed by eight strokes. Hampden-Sydney placed second at 1176 (296-293-296-291). Huntingdon and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps shared third place at 1182, with Hampden-Sydney shooting 287-306-292-297 and CMS shooting 295-303-288-296. Emory University (Ga.) was fifth at 1188 (296-303-298-291).
Willamette did not compete as a team on Thursday and Friday after missing the cut by one stroke on Wednesday. The top 18 teams, and the top six individuals not on those teams, advanced into the final two rounds. Davis was one of the six individual golfers who advanced after the first two rounds. Willamette tied for 19th place in the nation. A total of 43 teams qualified for the 2022 NCAA Championship tournament.
"The week obviously didn't turn out the way we had hoped or expected," Daugherty said. "But it wasn't for a lack of talent or effort. This week just wasn't our week. Even though we made a late rally, we came up one stroke short, and that's gonna be a hard one to swallow and get over. Missing the cut doesn't take anything away from an absolutely amazing season this team had -- start to finish. We finished in the top 20 in the country out of 286 programs, and put up some great scores."
