Coach Lubahn
Michigan State Men’s Golf Selected to NCAA Regionals for Ninth Time in Last 10 Years
By Michael ‘Mex’ Carey and Roy J. Akers- Sky View Sports
East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State’s men’s golf team was selected to play in the NCAA Regionals for the fourth-straight year and the ninth time in the last nine years.
The Spartans will play in the Tallahassee Regional at the Seminole Legacy Golf Club on the campus of the Florida State University.
The Spartans, seeded No. 10 in the regional, were one of 14 teams selected to play at the site and one of 81 teams in the country to reach a regional.
The Tallahassee Regional, as well as five other regionals, is scheduled to run from Monday, May 12 through Wednesday, May 14. Three regional sites will have 13 teams and 10 individuals and three will have 14 teams and five individuals. The top five teams (30 teams total) and the low individual not on an advancing team (six individuals total) from each regional site will advance to play in the championships at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California.
“I mean, it never gets old. Let’s put it that way,” Michigan State Head Coach Casey Lubahn said. “This team, three months ago, without their senior All-American, two freshmen, two sophomores, a junior transfer. We were just trying to learn, because I thought this was kind of a rebuilding year for us.
“And they surprised me so much over the last two months for their name to pop up there. We made plans to do other things this week. We had a golf tournament yesterday. My assistant’s playing a golf tournament today. We’re like, wow, it’s so far-fetched that they can ever make the tournament. And then they made it look easy for the rest of the season.”
The 14 teams competing in the Tallahassee Regional include (in order of seed): 1. Ole Miss; 2. Florida State; 3. San Diego State; 4. Georgia; 5. Louisville; 6. Northwestern; 7. Notre Dame; 8. New Mexico; 9. Southern California; 10. Michigan State; 11. Furman; 12. Augusta; 13. Davidson; 14. Florida A&M.
In his 14th season at the helm of the MSU program, Lubahn has guided the Spartans to representation at each of the last eight NCAA Tournaments and won at least one tournament in 11 of his 14 complete seasons of competition. The Spartans were selected for NCAA Regionals from 2015-16 to 2018-19, James Piot reached a regional as an individual in 2021 and the team has played in the last four regionals, including two years ago when MSU hosted in East Lansing.
“I’m almost emotional about this group, because they upheld the standard,” Lubahn said. “This is nine out of 10 NCAA tournaments for us. The one year we missed it was kind of a weird COVID year. They knew what the standard is, even though they had zero experience in doing it, they wanted to live up to the standard, and that says a lot about the program.”
MSU features a young lineup with a junior transfer, two sophomores and two freshmen in the counting five … Junior Caleb Bond is second on the team with a 71.53 scoring average, including a 70.45 average in the spring with seven top-20 finishes and four among the top-10 … He has been the team’s top finisher in four events this spring … Freshman Drew Miller is third on the team with a 73.38 scoring average and a pair of top-20 finishes in the spring … Miller has a 72.95 average in 20 rounds during the spring … Pinili is third on the team with a 73.03 scoring average, including a 71.36 over seven spring events … Freshman Julian Menser has a 74.52 average over 29 rounds and nine events and is had career-best tie for 18th place at the Boilermaker Invitational at 1-under par 213 (70-71-71) to close out the regular season … Sophomore Lucas Acevedo is fifth on the team with a 73.87 scoring average in 23 rounds and eight events … Freshmen Juan Velazquez has a 75.56 average in six events covering 16 rounds.
