ATU Golf Teams Advance to NCAA Nationals

There are more than 300 members of NCAA Division II in the United States and Canada.

Among those, only two — Barry University (Fla.) and Arkansas Tech University — advanced to the NCAA Division II Championships in men’s golf and women’s golf in 2017 and 2018.

The Golden Suns finished 11th in the 2018 NCAA Division II Women’s Golf Championships, which were contested May 16-19 at Bay Oaks Country Club in Houston, Texas.

ATU completed the 72-hole event with a team score of 1,250 under the direction of head coach Amy Anderson.

Pia Nunbhakdi (T-27th, 72-76-77-79-304) was Arkansas Tech’s top individual finisher.

Peerada Piddon (T-34th, 71-78-78-80-307), Allie Weiner (T-51st, 80-83-74-78-315), Holly Standing (T-65th, 82-82-80-81-325) and Avery Struck (70th, 84-82-87-84-337) also contributed to the Golden Suns’ top-11 national finish.

The Wonder Boys finished tied for fifth in the stroke play portion of the 2018 NCAA Division II Men’s Golf Championships at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at The Shoals Fighting Joe Course in Muscle Shoals, Ala.

Tech completed 54 holes of stroke play May 21-23 at 6-under par 858, which was good for a share of fifth place and a berth in match play under the leadership of head coach Luke Calcatera.

The Wonder Boys’ season ended with a tiebreaker loss to Lynn University in the quarterfinal round of match play on May 24. Tech and Lynn both won two matches and they halved one. The Fighting Knights advanced to the semifinal round due to tiebreaker procedures set forth by the NCAA participant manual for the 2018 championships.

Tech’s was led to the match play portion of the event by Austin Gean. The product of nearby Florence, Ala., shot 5-under 67 in the final round of stroke play on May 23. His round included an eagle on the par-5 17th hole, three birdies and 14 pars.

Gean finished tied for seventh in the individual standings with a three-day total of 6-under 210.

Putter Srinoon (T-20th, 68-77-70-215), Kellen Gray (T-34th, 75-71-72-218), Luke Cornett (T-39th, 73-74-73-220) and Shawn Tsai (T-55th, 71-80-72-223) also contributed to the Wonder Boys’ top-five finish in stroke play.