TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of South Alabama's Peter Staalbo saved his best for last at the NCAA Tuscaloosa Men's Golf Regional, firing a 1-under-par 71 Wednesday in the final round of the tournament.
That figure was four strokes better than his score the day before, and a nine-shot improvement from his performance in the opening round, giving the sophomore from Lejre, Denmark a 226 total for the event. It was the 10th time this spring that Staalbo has shot par or better, helping him finish in a tie for 46th place among a field of 75 competitors.
"It's a bit of a cliché but I focused on the present and played the shot in front of me," he said of his day-to-day improvement at the regional. "It didn't matter to me during the round that I was not in a good position on the leaderboard. My goal for the year is to end up among the top 175 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, I knew that the better I finished the more points I would get; that meant every shot counted. I just stuck to my game because I knew that I could play well, and I did."
Georgia — the top seed in the region and rated fifth in the country — carded a 6-under-par 282 total for the second day in a row, winning the regional with a three-round group score of 16-under-par 848. Also advancing to the NCAA Championship, which will be held in Eugene, Ore., May 27-June 1, were No. 17 South Carolina (852), 19th-ranked Alabama (857), Kentucky (858) and No. 8 Auburn (867).
The Bulldogs' Greyson Sigg was the tournament medalist, firing a 4-under-par 68 in the final round for a 9-under-par 207 54-hole score, as he ended up one shot ahead of Matthew NeSmith from USC. The individual berth in the finals went to third-place finisher William Rainey of Charleston, who had a three-day 7-under-par 209 total.
Staalbo started on the 10th hole of the par-72, 7,512-yard Ol' Colony Golf Course for the second straight day, opening with three consecutive pars. He bogeyed the 460-yard par-four 13th, but that would turn out to be his lone miscue of the round. Staalbo answered with a four on No. 14 — playing at 549 yards — to get back to even par, moving to 1 under with a three at the 318-yard second.
He concluded the event with pars on each of his last seven holes.
"I had my driver in play at every hole, so I had opportunities to hit good irons," Staalbo explained. "I hit every green on a long course, to do that I had to hit my irons consistently well. I had good leaves so there were a lot of uphill putts, I made a lot of good putts that just didn't drop and was able to clean up well for pars. And I was in control mentally."
"Peter played very good, controlled golf today, hitting all 18 greens in regulation," South head coach Ben Hannan stated. "He had opportunities throughout the course of the day and was in complete control."
Staalbo's appearance in the regional was the 12th by a Jaguar golfer in program history.
"For Peter to play in a regional his first year is an impressive feat, this experience will only help him moving forward," Hannan observed. "Peter is a dedicated player, I know he will go home, learn from his time here and be a better player in the future for it."
"Playing the course you have to be in complete control all the time, if you don't focus and make just one bad decision you can easily make a bogey or worse," said Staalbo on what he learned this week. "It was a very good test. You could hit good shots all day and still have to make decent putts just to have a tap-in for par; a lot times you could hit a good iron and still have 30-40 footers for birdie because of the pin placements and the firm, fast greens."
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—USA—
NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional
Ol' Colony Golf Course, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Par 72, 7,512 yards
Team Scores: 1) Georgia 284-282-282—848 (-16); 2) South Carolina 287-282-283—852; 3) Alabama 292-284-281—857; 4) Kentucky 288-287-283—858; 5) Auburn 294-290-283—867; 6) Nevada-Las Vegas 290-303-282—875; 7) Charleston 298-295-294—887; T8) Lipscomb 302-300-288—890; T8) Colorado 296-306-288—890; 10) Kansas 308-301-305—914; 11) Charleston Southern 315-310-291—916; 12) Harvard 323-298-301—922; 13) Southern Illinois 314-308-301—923.
Individual Leaders: 1) Greyson Sigg, UGA 68-71-68—207 (-9); 2) Matthew NeSmith, USC 70-70-68—208; 3) William Rainey, CoC 70-71-68—209; T4) Davis Riley, Bama 74-67-69—210; T4) Tyler McDaniel, UK 72-67-71—210; T6) Lukas Euler, UK 70-71-71—212; T6) Zach Healy, UGA 68-71-73—212; 8) John Oda, UNLV 72-71-70—213; 9) Keenan Huskey, USC 73-68-73—214; T10) four individuals with 215.
South Alabama Scores: T46) Peter Staalbo* 80-75-71—226 (+10).
*competing as an individual
