TicketsLAS VEGAS -- One night of sleep is all that separates the No. 40 Cincinnati men's golf team from its three-day NCAA postseason debut Monday morning. Pairings and live scoring are available on Golfstat.
UC enters the fray as the No. 7 seed out of 14 teams, with eight of those in the top-50. The other schools are No. 4 Arizona State, No. 8 Stanford, No. 16 Virginia, No. 21 Oklahoma State, No. 28 Northwestern, No. 33 East Tennessee State, No. 45 San Francisco, Long Beach State, Oregon State, Davidson, Kansas City, Lehigh and UNC Greensboro.
Bear's Best Las Vegas, a par-72, 7,217-yard Jack Nicklaus-designed course, is the host site.
Jean leads the way with a 69.97 stroke average, followed by Ty Gingerich at 70.91. McDonald is coming off his highest-career finish (10th) and lowest round (66 in the final) at the AAC Championships, seeking to continue his hot streak at the most clutch time.
Jean's NCAA experience in Columbus as an individual last year can be a major factor as well, albeit under different circumstances without a team score on the docket. His 3-under 69 in the second round of that event matched the lowest of the field that day, and he was the only one out of 75 participants without a bogey then.
The future stays bright with Ford, the AAC Freshman of the Year, whose 8-under 64 at the Mossy Oak Collegiate and 15-under 201 in Puerto Rico's Dorado Beach Collegiate were both school records. His 72.00 stroke average includes a 70.06 mark in the spring, down from 75.18 in the fall, and he was third at the AAC Championships. Wotherspoon's 71.75 mark is actually the lowest freshman mark in UC history.
The squad left Cincinnati at 6:10 a.m. Thursday, arriving just after 7 a.m. PT. Following a breakfast at the landmark Peppermill restaurant along the Strip, the team headed to the TPC Summerlin course for swings and thin-air acclimation.
"I'm really glad we came out on Thursday morning," Martin said following Saturday's practice. "Leaving at 6 a.m. in Cincinnati, my whole goal was to get out here and get accustomed to this time. We had breakfast and tried to treat it like a normal day. We practiced for a couple of hours before our guys hit the wall. We had a later dinner to try to get the guys to stay up till 9 or 10 for sleep."
Friday and Saturday featured 18-hole days at another pair of Summerlin courses within a couple of miles from the hotel. Sunday marks the official on-site practice round for all teams.
"It's been good," Martin said of the team's longer-than-usual hotel stay. "This team is a great group with great camaraderie, and they really enjoy being around each other. That obviously makes coming out here in advance very easy for us. Day 3 was the first day that we felt normal and like ourselves."
UC enters the fray as the No. 7 seed out of 14 teams, with eight of those in the top-50. The other schools are No. 4 Arizona State, No. 8 Stanford, No. 16 Virginia, No. 21 Oklahoma State, No. 28 Northwestern, No. 33 East Tennessee State, No. 45 San Francisco, Long Beach State, Oregon State, Davidson, Kansas City, Lehigh and UNC Greensboro.
Bear's Best Las Vegas, a par-72, 7,217-yard Jack Nicklaus-designed course, is the host site.
Swingin' for The Strip. 🃏 pic.twitter.com/7G0DGJbRN2
— Cincinnati M-Golf (@GoBearcatsMGOLF) May 13, 2023
Jean leads the way with a 69.97 stroke average, followed by Ty Gingerich at 70.91. McDonald is coming off his highest-career finish (10th) and lowest round (66 in the final) at the AAC Championships, seeking to continue his hot streak at the most clutch time.
Jean's NCAA experience in Columbus as an individual last year can be a major factor as well, albeit under different circumstances without a team score on the docket. His 3-under 69 in the second round of that event matched the lowest of the field that day, and he was the only one out of 75 participants without a bogey then.
The future stays bright with Ford, the AAC Freshman of the Year, whose 8-under 64 at the Mossy Oak Collegiate and 15-under 201 in Puerto Rico's Dorado Beach Collegiate were both school records. His 72.00 stroke average includes a 70.06 mark in the spring, down from 75.18 in the fall, and he was third at the AAC Championships. Wotherspoon's 71.75 mark is actually the lowest freshman mark in UC history.
The squad left Cincinnati at 6:10 a.m. Thursday, arriving just after 7 a.m. PT. Following a breakfast at the landmark Peppermill restaurant along the Strip, the team headed to the TPC Summerlin course for swings and thin-air acclimation.
"I'm really glad we came out on Thursday morning," Martin said following Saturday's practice. "Leaving at 6 a.m. in Cincinnati, my whole goal was to get out here and get accustomed to this time. We had breakfast and tried to treat it like a normal day. We practiced for a couple of hours before our guys hit the wall. We had a later dinner to try to get the guys to stay up till 9 or 10 for sleep."
Friday and Saturday featured 18-hole days at another pair of Summerlin courses within a couple of miles from the hotel. Sunday marks the official on-site practice round for all teams.
"It's been good," Martin said of the team's longer-than-usual hotel stay. "This team is a great group with great camaraderie, and they really enjoy being around each other. That obviously makes coming out here in advance very easy for us. Day 3 was the first day that we felt normal and like ourselves."
Flight ➡️ Breakfast ➡️ Work
— Cincinnati M-Golf (@GoBearcatsMGOLF) May 11, 2023
Thanks to @tpc_summerlin for having us after an awesome meal at @PeppermillVegas.
Day 1 is still young. #Bearcats pic.twitter.com/qQQYKZYLK9