Beginning last Friday in Carlsbad, Calif., the Cavaliers embarked on a journey that is fortunately all too familiar for this year’s team — a second straight National Championship appearance. If they wanted to reach the mountaintop of an NCAA title, however, they would first have to take down the course for four rounds to even get into the match play portion of the tournament. Virginia was able to make it to the match play quarterfinals, but unfortunately their season ended there with a loss to Auburn.
At the end of day one, the Cavaliers found themselves atop the leaderboard amongst the nation’s best teams at a course that was certainly playing to the caliber of the players involved. Although a small portion achieved scores well under par, too many Virginia golfers put together some less-than-stellar rounds, and it was up to Virginia to simply brave the storm with consistency.
That is just what the Cavaliers did, with senior George Duangmanee leading the way with a one-under 71 and his brother, freshman Josh Duangmanee, coming into the clubhouse at even par. Junior Deven Patel and sophomores Ben James and Bryan Lee were all over par but played well enough to secure a first-place position heading into round two.
Day two proved to be much of the same for Virginia, as George Duangmanee scored another 71, and James dropped two strokes off of his first-round 73. Patel and Josh Duangmanee found themselves in familiar territory, both matching their first round scores, while Lee came back from a troublesome 75 with a 73. After all was said and done, the seventh-seeded Cavaliers shockingly remained fixed in first place, sporting a team score of one over par.
Day three proved to be all about Ben James, as he surged up to second place on the individual leaderboard with a third-round best of 69. Aside from Josh Duangmanee’s steady score of 72, it was a forgettable day for the rest of the Virginia squad. A 74, 76 and 77 from George Duangmanee, Lee and Patel, respectively, lost the Cavaliers their position and left them in a still-spectacular second place spot just two strokes behind first-place Illinois.
Whatever funk enveloped three of the Cavaliers a day prior caught up to James and Duangmanee during the final round as well. Other than Patel, no Virginia player shot even par or better on day four, and the Cavaliers slipped down another spot to a third-place finish in the stroke play portion of the event. Fortunately, this was still more than enough to be one of the 15 teams that can advance to the quarterfinals, the first round of match play.
However, a positive finish for the team was somewhat dampened by a mishap that ultimately cost James his chance at an individual NCAA title. During the first round of the tournament, James was assessed a one-stroke penalty for slow play on the par-four 17th hole, a penalty that proved to be all too significant when he came into the clubhouse after the final round just one shot shy of the eventual champion, Georgia Tech’s sophomore Hiroshi Tai. As much as this was a crushing blow to James and his teammates, there was not much time to sulk. They were now tasked with having to beat number-one seed Auburn.
The Cavaliers quickly found themselves deep in a deficit, as everyone but George Duangmanee was losing after just three holes of play. It continued to play out in a similar fashion, until the match was finalized with a 3-1 victory for eventual national champion Auburn.
Only Duangmanee was able to win his match, while James’ match was not completed due to Auburn already clinching the overall team victory. Despite the one-sided display, the Cavaliers showed a lot more fight than will ultimately be remembered from the scorecard. Tasked with taking on the Ben Hogan Award winner, freshman Jackson Koivun, Patel fell behind by three holes before clawing back to tie the match with four holes to play. Still tied on the 18th green, Koivun made an eight-foot putt and Patel was unable to match with his own putt, leading to a deflating finish for the Cavaliers.
Although neither the team or James was able to come up with a championship title, some players did leave with some hardware. James was named a PING First Team All-American, and the Duangmanee brothers both earned their own All-American honors.
This season for men’s golf was one of the more impressive in recent memory, and the good news for Virginia fans is that the Cavaliers will look very similar next year. Only George Duangmanee will be leaving the championship roster, and the squad will look forward to the final season of Patel’s services, a second year of maturing and refinement for the promising Josh Duangmanee and a third year for James, who continues to prove himself as one of the most talented players college golf has ever witnessed. A third consecutive National Championship appearance — or even bigger heights — could be reached for this group come next fall.
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