Virginia is one of the two teams that will move onto match play in SCOTTSDALE for the first ever. Florida will be joining the Cavaliers at Grayhawk Golf Club in bracket play, which is the host venue for the 2023 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship.
The eight top teams will compete to determine the NCAA champion. Virginia is ranked No. Virginia is the No. In the first round, Florida will be seeded No.
Bowen Sargent’s team is the lowest ranked of the eight teams, at No. The Cavaliers, ranked 17th in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings are far from a Cinderella tale. It’s true that they are underdogs, but at this stage, any claims about them being a’surprise team’ or “just happy to be there” can be dismissed. Virginia can win the championship.
Sargent brought Virginia to Rich Harvest Farms, where he played with Oklahoma. As the 14th-ranked college golf team, he watched the Sooners take the title.
Sargent stated, “I told my team that we played Oklahoma at Rich Harvest and they were ranked in the same place as us and they won. Then next year Oregon was involved.” “I told them that you can win the thing.”
In the 13 years that the format of match play has been used, five teams have achieved a ranking in double digits and won the championship:
- Texas A&M is ranked 14th in the nation
- LSU (11th place)
- 2016: Oregon (22nd)
- 2017: Oklahoma (14th)
- Stanford (12th)
It is no surprise that his team played well enough this week to earn a Tuesday morning tee-time.
Sargent replied, “I’m very humble.” “I told my assistant that we would play matchplay. I am proud of the program and happy to be a part of it. “We haven’t done well in the last four to five years, but Ben (James), and Bryan (Lee), changed that.
Ben James, a freshman at Virginia University, is a major reason for the team’s success this year. He won his first two college events, and is now the top freshman golfer in college and a finalist for the Haskins Award.
Sargent stated that Ben brought a great deal to the program. The way he approached it every day, and the way he worked that spread throughout our entire team.
“As much a coach may want to talk about and enforce it, if you have a guy like him who does it every day, the other guys will see and notice and it has really changed the culture in our team. He is the one who changed it.
James always keeps things in perspective
James replied, “It means a lot hearing that from the coach.” “Golf’s just a sport at the end, I try to bring a positive attitude and hard-working mentality as well as be a good member of my team.”
James is a great player who can relieve the pressure on other players.
It was great to see at the end that we could make some clutch putts, and finish the job.
James was the top Virginia golfer this week, with a total of 4-under and an individual finish in sixth place.
Virginia, behind James’ wins, also won twice last fall. Then they finished third at the NCAA Las Vegas Regional and earned a place this week in Scottsdale. Sargent believes that playing in Las Vegas played a major role in the Cavaliers’ success this week.
Playing in Vegas really helped us. Sargent stated that it is similar to this. “Most members of our team were out West, and we have to give credit to our administration. We were able to stay here for a long time, and it was a great help. We arrived here about five or six days prior to our arrival.
We would hear that you wouldn’t believe how far you had come, that you wouldn’t believe the pull toward phoenix. Things like that. I think that we learned this in the days before arriving here.
Sargent also praises the amount of time spent on preparation and course management.
“I believe we worked hard on the front-end. I spoke to both (North Florida) coach Scott Schroeder, and (Liberty) coach Jeff Thomas. Sargent said, “I had many people helping me with this place.”
“We really, really work hard on course-management. One of the very few programs in the nation that is really, really. … we beat into our guys’ heads. How to use yardage book, think like a pro around the course.”
What Sargent has done to get to the finals, and what they do this week, is working.
