The Chattanooga Mocs return to the NCAA Men's Golf Tournament in two weeks the NCAA announced on the Golf Channel Wednesday afternoon. The Mocs are the seven seed in the Rancho Santa Fe Regionals May 13-15 at the Farms in suburban San Diego.
"We're honored to be in the field again in 2024," Coach
Blaine Woodruff stated. "Our guys earned this throughout the season.
Every year is new, but our guys are postseason tested and ready for the challenge to not only repeat advancing from regionals but exceed it. It doesn't matter where we go or who we are up against, we need to do what we do, and we'll be just fine."
The postseason roster is pretty well set. SoCon starters
John Houk,
Paul Conroy,
Samuel Espinosa,
Garrett Engle and
Braedon Wear are joined by
Dalton Chuba. The 3rd-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils headline the field for the group that's made two trips to California already at PGA West in Palm Springs in February and Pasatiempo in Santa Cruz in April.
It's a long way to go, but that's not terribly new for the Mocs. Five of the prior 13 appearances saw the program travers west. Two of those ended in trips to the finals.
- 2009 (Stillwater, Okla.) – ADVANCED
- 2010 (Santee, Calif.)
- 2011 (Erie, Colo.)
- 2014 (Eugene, Ore.) – ADVANCED (Chris Robb)
- 2022 (Norman, Okla.)
"We're honored to be in the field again in 2024," Coach
Blaine Woodruff stated. "Our guys earned this throughout the season. Every year is new, but our guys are postseason tested and ready for the challenge to not only repeat advancing from regionals but exceed it.
"We can't wait to get started."
The trip to San Diego is a good precursor for the group. This year's Championships are played May 24-29 at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Claif., also in the metropolitan area.
FIELD (2023-24 Record vs. Opp)
1 – (3) Arizona State (0-0)
2 – (10) Washington (0-2)
3 – (16) Oklahoma (0-0)
4 – (22) Cal (1-1)
5 – (26) Oklahoma State (0-0)
6 – (34) North Florida (1-0)
7 – (38) Chattanooga
8 – (46) South Florida (0-0)
9 – (50) San Diego (0-1)
10 – (58) West Virginia (1-0)
11 – (67) Kansas (0-1)
12 – (124) Wright State (0-0)
13 – (166) Seton Hall (0-0)
14 – (192) Winthrop (0-0)
Individuals:
Mahanth Chirravuri, Pepperdine
Tegan Andrews, Cal State Fullerton
William Walsh, Pepperdine
Brady Siravo, Pepperdine
Kevin Li, Seattle
NCAA REGIONALS SITES
The University of Texas Golf Club | Austin, TX (Texas, host)
University Club | Baton Rouge, LA (LSU, host)
UNC Finley Golf Course | Chapel Hill, NC (UNC, host)
The Farms Golf Club | Rancho Santa Fe, CA (San Diego, host)
Stanford Golf Course | Stanford, CA (Stanford, host)
Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex | West Lafayette, IN (Purdue, host)
FIELD
Eighty-one teams and 45 individuals embark May 13-15 at those regional sites to reach the finals. The top five teams and top individual on a non-advancing program move on to Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., May 24-29.
HISTORY
10 team and 14 total entries in NCAA Men's Golf Regionals all-time. The program moved on to the finals five times:
1993: Neil Connolly, MC
2009: Team, 18th
2012: Team, 18th
2014: Chris Robb, T15 (All-America)
2023: Team, T23
FUN FACT
All five members of last year's NCAA Championships squad are back: Houk, Conroy, Espinosa, Wear & Engle. The alternate for this season is junior
Dalton Chuba, a Chattanooga native.