Kling closes career strongly at NCAA regional

Monday, May 13

Austin, Texas

Grand Canyon

NCAA Regional Tournament

Photo by: Jayden Todd

5/15/2024 1:16:00 PM | Men's Golf

Final Results

GCU senior fires final round of 72 to cap WAC POY season

AUSTIN, Texas – Grand Canyon senior golfer Nicky Kling closed his decorated season with one of the better NCAA Austin Regional final rounds on Wednesday, but the Lopes wound up in last place at the 13-team postseason tournament.

Kling highlighted GCU's day at University of Texas Golf Club, where he played the final eight holes of the tournament at 2 under par. Kling birdied the par-3 second hole and par-4 sixth hole after the Lopes started their final round on the back nine.

After consecutive 11-over rounds on Monday and Tuesday, the Lopes closed the regional with a 19-over round on the 7,399-yard course Wednesday. The WAC champions finished six strokes behind 12th-place San Jose State while host Texas ran away with the regional title at 27 under. With five regional teams qualifying for the NCAA Championship, the final spot went to Wake Forest at 2 over on a sudden-death playoff victory over BYU.

The WAC back-to-back champions won three tournaments this season and finished runner-up in three other tournaments. GCU participated in consecutive NCAA regionals, finishing 11th last year the Morgan Hill Regional.

Kling and senior Tommaso Zorzetto were the only Lopes to play in both regionals. Zorzetto was GCU's highest regional finisher, playing the tournament at 8 over to tie for 46th place. He was climbing the leaderboard Wednesday with 1-under play through his first 11 holes before being set back by a double bogey and triple bogey down the stretch.

Kling and GCU freshman Gavin O'Neill tied for 55th place in the regional at 11 over while junior Josh McCabe finished on a birdie Wednesday to tie for 66th (15 over) and senior Matthew Pennington tied for 68th (16 over).