BOULDER CITY, Nevada – The eighth-ranked Generals finished tied for sixth place at the conclusion of the 2024 NCAA DIII Championships on Friday at the Boulder Creek Golf Club.
The Blue and White wrapped up the tournament with a 289-290-285-287–1151 scorecard, one stroke under par, and rose up two spots from the eighth position W&L held the last two days of competition.
The sixth-place showing is the best team finish for the Generals since taking second in 2018.
Top-ranked Methodist University overtook the team title with a total score of 1131 (-21), the reigning champions, No. 3 Carnegie Mellon University (1132, -22) dropped to second place and tied for third was No. 4 Oglethorpe and No. 2 Emory, three strokes under par.
On Friday, Elias Malakoff and Will Braxton finished one stroke under par and jumped 15 positions on the leaderboard to finish tied for 54th. Jonathan McEwen finished even on the fourth round and tied for 11th overall.
Seniors Walker McPhail tied for 24th and Cannon Crane tied for 60th place.
Oglethorpe’s Michael O’Sullivan remained on top of the individual leaderboard and finished 12 strokes under par with a scorecard of 66-70-71-69–276 (-12).
THE COURSE BASICS
- May 14-17
- Boulder Creek Golf Club & The Legacy Gold Club
- Boulder City, Nevada
- Summary By Course
- The Legacy Golf Club – 7077 – 77.2 Average – 220 rounds
- Boulder Creek Golf Club – 7377 yards – 74.37 Average – 412 rounds
- First Round Average Scores
- The Legacy Golf Club – 75.61 Average – 101 rounds
- Boulder Creek Golf Club – 75.27 Average – 120 rounds
- Second Round Average Scores
- The Legacy Golf Club – 78.55 Average – 119 rounds
- Boulder Creek Golf Club – 75.31 Average – 100 rounds
- Third Round Average Scores
- Boulder Creek Golf Club – 72.84 Average – 96 rounds
- Fourth Round Average Scores
- Boulder Creek Golf Club – 73.81 Average – 96 rounds
Jonathan McEwen (65-77-70-72–284, -4)
- The rookie played best on par 5s, 11 strokes under par with a 4.31 average.
- McEwen registered 42 pars and 17 birdies over the four rounds.
- Following the conclusion of the fourth round, McEwen was recognized as NCAA Division III Phil Mickelson Outstanding Freshman Award, First Team All-America, and to the GCAA All-Freshman Team.
- The T11 finish is the seventh-best in program history and four strokes under par is the best score at the national championships for W&L
Walker McPhail (72-72-71-73–288, E)
- The senior finished one stroke under on both par 3s (2.94) and par 5s (4.94).
- Over the four days, McPhail tallied a team-high 49 pars and 12 birdies.
Will Braxton (78-73-72-71–294, +6)
- The junior recorded 13 birdies and 44 pars.
Elias Malakoff (78-73-72-71–294, +6)
- Malakoff carded 16 birdies and 39 pars.
Cannon Crane (74-74-72-75–295, +7)
- Crane recorded 48 pars, eight birdies and on eagle.
BY THE NUMBERS
- The Generals performed their best on par5s and finished 16 strokes under, a 4.80 average score on those holes.
- As a whole, the team shot for 66 birdies and 222 pars.
- The Generals have not had an individual finish par or better over the course of the NCAA Championships tournament since Brian Peccie tied for first with a 71-69-69-76–285 (-3) scorecard.
- McEwen’s four strokes under is the best score to par in program history and Walker McPhail’s even is the third-best score to par.
- Full results from the tournament can be found here: GolfStat Scoring
UP NEXT
The Generals completed the 2023-24 season with the program’s 14th trip to the NCAA National Championships.
Nestled in the mountains of Virginia, Washington and Lee University is a proud member of NCAA Division III and the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Founded in 1749, W&L is the ninth-oldest college in the United States and a top-ranked liberal arts university. With over 500 student-athletes in 24 varsity sports, the Generals have celebrated over 265 conference championships. Learn more about the Blue and White by visiting www.generalssports.com or on social media at @WLUGenerals.
First appeared on generalssports.com