Rice University
NCAA Central Regional
Rice Wraps Up Season
5/22/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
May 22, 2010
NCAA South Central Regional Final Results 
NCAA South Central Regional Golfstat Scoring
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COLLEGE STATION - It was not the way the Owls wanted to go out in 2010.
Rice University opened the final round of the NCAA South Central Regional Saturday in striking distance of a top-five finish which would put the Owls in the NCAA Golf Championship finals. But all five Rice golfers finished with scores above par en route to a 306 team score (+18).
Rice finished 11th in the team standings with a three-round score of 889 (+25).
The Owls had got to within four strokes of fifth early in their final round and were tied for eighth before struggling on a couple holes that dropped the team from contention.
"It's tough to finish this way," said Rice head coach Drew Scott.
Rice had won two team championships during the 2009-10 season and had earned an at-large bid to the regionals, the program's first NCAA appearance in 13 years. The year also included the program's best conference finish since the 1930s.
"I think our expectations got a lot higher," Scott said. "Sometimes it is frustrating when you don't play well because you have already had some success. It's tough for the guys to be happy at this moment because they had aspirations to make it to finals. It will be a tough couple days but they are all going to regroup, have great summers and come back in the fall ready to go."
Rice loses two seniors - Christopher Brown and Michael Buttacavoli. Both players struggled in their final collegiate tournament round. Brown headed into Saturday's round at two-under par but shot a six-over par 78 to finish the tournament at +4 and tie for 27th place. Buttacavoli shot an 85 Saturday to finish 19 over par for the tournament.
Junior golfer Michael Whitehead was the Owls' top finisher but a double bogey on the final hole gave him a three-round score of 217 (+1). Whitehead tied for 17th.
"I was very proud of Michael Whitehead," Scott said. "He played very solid today even though he doubled the last hole. He had a great tournament."
Whitehead's tee shot on the par-three ninth hole, fell short of the green and the junior had to play the ball out of deep rough. His shot from the rough came out far right of the pin placement landing above the green.
"It's probably 220 yards with a cross wind, over a ravine with bunkers on the right," Scott said. "You really have to pull off a great shot. Michael had hit the ball really well all day but unfortunately came up a little short on the last hole."
Texas Tech defeated Texas A&M by one stroke to win the tournament. Also advancing to the NCAA Golf Championship finals along with the Red Raiders and the Aggies will be TCU, North Florida and Baylor. The Bears won a playoff against Georgia to grab the last spot to the finals. The cutoff for the final spot was +5.
