Hello college golfers! Hopefully your final few weeks of the school year aren't being so busy that they're keeping you off the course.
Before I get to the results, I want to say congratulations to the NCCGA National Championship qualifiers that get the opportunity to travel to New Jersey next weekend. The #RoadtoJersey is coming to a close... Who's gonna take home the trophy?
As you all know, the Connecticut Huskies prevailed in this year's NCAA basketball championship game... Both the men and the women!
Despite Wisconsin finally getting knocked out of the tournament in the final four by Kentucky, the Badger contingent of NCCGA Madness should be happy to know they captured the team title of our competition by a wide margin. Here are the FINAL team standings:
| 1 Wisconsin |
4060 |
| 2 Ohio State |
3750 |
| 3 Baylor |
3590 |
| 4 Missouri |
3400 |
| 5 Virginia |
3360 |
| 6 Iowa State |
3340 |
| 7 Boston College |
3240 |
| 8 Central Washington |
3180 |
| 9 NCCGA Leadership |
3080 |
| 10 Pittsburgh |
3040 |
The top three teams not only did well in NCCGA Madness, they also qualified for the National Championship in New Jersey. Think they'll finish in the same order there??
As for the individuals, here is the FINAL leaderboard:
| 1 Eric Prince | Kentucky |
980 |
| 2 Ron Koth | Illinois State |
920 |
| 3 Dominic Ricasoli | Duquesne |
900 |
| 4 Ben Leon | Georgia |
860 |
| 5 Brad Buchberger | Central Washington |
850 |
| 6 Tyler Piddington | Wisconsin |
830 |
| 6 Tom Cox | Wisconsin |
830 |
| 8 Dave Pytel | Baylor |
820 |
| 8 Kris Cummings | Ohio State |
820 |
| 10 Zack Dhionis | New Hampshire |
810 |
| 10 Aaron Krueger | Wisconsin |
810 |
| 10 Bill Donovan | Missouri |
810 |
So while Kentucky ended up losing to UCONN in the championship game, Eric Prince's faith in his Wildcats to get as far as they did helped propel him to the top of the field in the first-ever NCCGA Madness. Congratulations Mr. Prince! You'll be taking home a sweet prize pack including a dozen Srixon Z-Star balls, a Srixon hat, and a NextGenGolf/NCCGA #PLAYER T-shirt. Be sure to contact Mike Belkin at mike@nextgengolf.org to collect your prizes.
Overall, the first ever NCCGA Madness event was a success. 192 people competed this year, but with the rate golf is growing these days, I expect many more to sign up next year!
**Kevin Fitzpatrick is a junior at Iowa State University. Follow him on twitter @KFitzy87
