Fantastic fifth spot for Paul Dunne in NCAA Championships
Paul Dunne following his fifth place finish in the NCAA Div 1 finals in Florida
He didn't win the title but Greystones' Paul Dunne could still be immensely proud of his fifth place finish in the NCAA Championships in Florida last night.
Not since future US Open winner Graeme McDowell came fourth in 2002 has an Irish male golfer contended for the biggest individual college title in the US — a massive achievement for the Irish international and former East of Ireland winner.
Dunne had three birdies and two double bogey sixes in a one-over 73 at The Concession Golf Club in Florida, finishing solo fifth on five under par.
It was another remarkable achievement for the 22-year old, who now turns his attention to winning a place in what could be the most Irish GB&I Walker Cup side of all time with Cormac Sharvin, Gavin Moynihan, Gary Hurley and Jack Hume all serious contenders for places in Nigel Edwards' 10-man team to face the USA at Royal Lytham and St Annes in September.
Dunne said: "Today I feel I got to a start that I was in the wrong mindset to play. I was getting a little bit too excited for good shots and a little bit too down on myself when I hit a bad one.
"The two drives on five and 10 really cost me and I made two doubles. But I don't think I had a bogey for the rest of the day apart from those two doubles so the rest of the day was pretty solid.
"But during that delay on 10 I told myself to get back to the way I normally play, just set a number in my head and go about my business and not worry about where it is going to leave me. So I just got back to playing golf and not looking at all the distractions around."
"Paul had a great tournament," said head coach Alan Murray, another Greystones man. "He will be a little bit disappointed he didn't win, but I am so proud of him. He really showed his class as a golfer.
"Today he hit two drives in the water that probably cost him, but he bounced back and played really steady. He just couldn't get the ball in the hole. Sometimes it just goes like. So proud of him. This is one of the best fields in amateur golf and he finished fifth so what a fine achievement."
Dunne's finish was just one behind McDowell's fourth place finish in the 2002 NCAA Championships finishing on five under 283 behind an emotional Bryson Dechambeau, who became the first SMU golfer to win the NCAA title after shooting a 71 to beat Washington's Cheng-Tsung Pan by a stroke on eight under.
"I didn't know I finished one behind where Graeme did so that would have been nice to pip him. It feels like his records are unattainable at the school."
Dunne carded three rounds at or under par to go along with Monday's 73 (72-69-69).
"It feels good," Dunne said. "If you had told me that at the beginning of the week I probably would have taken it. My goal was to finish all four rounds under par, so I was a little bit disappointed to miss out on that by one shot today. Overall it was a good week, good experience."
Dunne entered the final round in second place, just one shot behind Dechambeau and started the day with three straight pars. He was leading going into the fourth hole but found the water off the tee and made a double bogey to go two-over.
He got a shot back with a birdie on the seventh before falling victim to another double bogey on the 10th hole following another wayward tee shot.
He recovered with a birdie on the 15th and earned a spot in the top-five with a birdie on the 17th hole, capping off a great week for the senior, who earned his career-best finish at the NCAA Championships.
According to UAB, Dunne became the first player in UAB history to appear in three nationals in his career.
UAB closed out the 2014-15 season at the NCAA Championships. The Blazers made their sixth appearance at the nationals and won four of their last five tournaments coming in, including a win at the NCAA Bremerton Regional.
Dunne played 10 events before getting to the NCAA finals, claiming two Top-10s and averaging 72.2 per round.
A fine student, his best season was arguably his sophomore year when he won twice, made the Division I PING All-America Third Team, helped Team Europe to a victory at the 2014 Palmer Cup and played in the 2014 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.
2015 NCAA DI Championship - Stroke,
Concession Golf Club, Bradenton, FL
NCAA Men, May 29 - Jun 01
Start Finish Player Team Scores
1 1 Bryson Dechambeau SMU 70 67 72 71 280 -8
T7 2 Cheng-Tsung Pan * Washington 72 70 72 67 281 -7
T7 T3 Hunter Stewart Vanderbilt 74 69 71 68 282 -6
T3 T3 Thomas Detry Illinois 68 71 73 70 282 -6
2 5 Paul Dunne * UAB 72 69 69 73 283 -5
T3 6 Claudio Correa South Florida 68 75 69 72 284 -4
T10 7 Andrew Presley TCU 73 70 72 70 285 -3
T10 T8 Doug Ghim Texas 72 73 70 71 286 -2
T14 T8 Riley Davenport * Charlotte 70 74 72 70 286 -2
T14 10 Beau Hossler Texas 72 75 69 71 287 -1
T30 T11 Matthias Schwab Vanderbilt 75 71 73 69 288 E
T14 T11 Zack Jaworski Vanderbilt 71 74 71 72 288 E
T10 T11 Brandon Pierce LSU 71 71 73 73 288 E
T10 T11 Mookie DeMoss Georgia 71 74 70 73 288 E
6 T11 Zach Wright LSU 70 70 73 75 288 E
T23 T16 Jake Shuman * Duke 69 78 71 71 289 +1
T30 T16 Will Starke South Carolina 78 71 70 70 289 +1
T19 T16 Zachary Olsen * Oklahoma State 71 71 75 72 289 +1
T3 T16 Zach Healy Georgia 70 72 70 77 289 +1
T14 T16 Sean Crocker Southern California 73 68 75 73 289 +1
T19 T16 Preston Valder UCLA 74 75 68 72 289 +1
T19 T22 Dylan Meyer Illinois 72 70 75 73 290 +2
T19 T22 Jon Rahm * Arizona State 71 75 71 73 290 +2
T14 T22 Jack Maguire Florida State 71 73 72 74 290 +2
T59 T25 Michael Johnson Auburn 78 72 73 68 291 +3
T42 T25 Brian Campbell Illinois 72 77 72 70 291 +3
T23 T27 Blair Hamilton * Houston 73 76 69 74 292 +4
T7 T27 Eric Ricard LSU 72 74 68 78 292 +4
T23 T29 Denny McCarthy * Virginia 76 69 73 75 293 +5
T30 T29 Julien Brun TCU 74 75 70 74 293 +5
T59 T29 Eric Sugimoto Southern California 73 78 72 70 293 +5
T59 T29 Chase Koepka South Florida 72 72 79 70 293 +5
T51 T33 Scottie Scheffler Texas 72 78 72 72 294 +6
T42 T33 Bobby Gojuangco Southern California 73 73 75 73 294 +6
T69 T33 Lee McCoy Georgia 73 77 74 70 294 +6
T30 T33 Jonah Texeira Southern California 73 72 74 75 294 +6
T23 T33 Vince Whaley Georgia Tech 79 71 68 76 294 +6
T23 T38 Ryan Orr * Florida 70 75 73 77 295 +7
T59 T38 Nick Hardy Illinois 74 73 76 72 295 +7
T35 T38 Ryann Ree San Diego State 73 76 71 75 295 +7
T23 T38 Jake Knapp UCLA 71 74 73 77 295 +7
T35 T38 Rigel Fernandes South Florida 78 69 73 75 295 +7
T35 T43 Cristobal Del Solar Florida State 78 73 69 76 296 +8
T35 T43 Rico Hoey Southern California 70 72 78 76 296 +8
T30 T45 Matthew NeSmith South Carolina 74 72 73 78 297 +9
T42 T45 Hank Lebioda Florida State 73 70 78 76 297 +9
T42 T45 Xander Schauffele San Diego State 73 75 73 76 297 +9
T51 T45 Sepp Straka Georgia 74 70 78 75 297 +9
T71 T49 Sean Kelly South Carolina 71 83 71 73 298 +10
T90 T49 Gavin Hall Texas 79 74 75 70 298 +10
T71 T49 Greyson Sigg Georgia 75 78 72 73 298 +10
T35 T49 Ollie Schniederjans Georgia Tech 76 74 70 78 298 +10
T51 53 Chris Petefish Georgia Tech 72 77 73 77 299 +11
T104 T54 Charlie Danielson Illinois 74 78 78 70 300 +12
T90 T54 Rowin Caron Florida State 76 78 74 72 300 +12
T71 T54 Chelso Barrett TCU 76 71 78 75 300 +12
T59 T54 PJ Samiere San Diego State 74 72 77 77 300 +12
T104 T54 James Clark Georgia Tech 76 75 79 70 300 +12
T94 T54 Lorens Chan UCLA 75 80 74 71 300 +12
T79 T54 Jonathan Garrick UCLA 74 84 68 74 300 +12
T71 T61 Theo Humphrey Vanderbilt 81 72 72 76 301 +13
T79 T61 Kramer Hickok Texas 78 79 69 75 301 +13
T51 T61 Daniel Stringfellow Auburn 75 72 75 79 301 +13
T23 T61 Ben Schlottman Auburn 74 72 72 83 301 +13
T42 T61 Paul Barjon TCU 73 77 71 80 301 +13
T71 66 Manav Shah UCLA 79 75 71 77 302 +14
T94 T67 Ryan Fricker South Florida 76 76 77 74 303 +15
T94 T67 Anders Albertson Georgia Tech 69 75 85 74 303 +15
T79 T67 Trey Valentine South Florida 78 75 73 77 303 +15
T59 70 Ryan Burgess SMU 74 78 71 81 304 +16
T84 T71 Caleb Sturgeon South Carolina 78 75 74 79 306 +18
T113 T71 Matt Gilchrest Auburn 76 80 76 74 306 +18
T79 T71 Nahum Mendoza III San Diego State 70 76 80 80 306 +18
T113 T74 Ryan Benton Auburn 76 74 82 75 307 +19
T113 T74 Austin Smotherman SMU 76 83 73 75 307 +19
T94 T74 Riccardo Michelini San Diego State 74 78 77 78 307 +19
T104 T77 Andrew Buchanan SMU 76 79 75 79 309 +21
T123 T77 Josh Lee Florida State 78 76 79 76 309 +21
T126 79 Carson Jacobs Vanderbilt 81 72 81 76 310 +22
T94 80 Benjamin Taylor LSU 79 74 76 82 311 +23
T151 81 Stewart Jolly LSU 82 82 77 72 313 +25
T142 82 Benjamin Baxter SMU 77 79 81 77 314 +26
T151 83 Will Murphy South Carolina 83 80 78 79 320 +32
T147 84 Giulio Castagnara TCU 81 78 80 82 321 +33
