At-large berth returns GCU to NCAA regionals

The Grand Canyon men's golf team was not given an NCAA regional at-large berth. It was earned.

The Lopes' full-season resume extended their season and sent them to the NCAA Reno Regional, where they will be one of 14 teams vying for five NCAA Championship spots in a 54-hole tournament May 12-14 at Montreux Golf and Country Club.

GCU's fate was revealed Wednesday morning on Golf Channel as the team watched together from its clubhouse at GCU Golf Course, where it immediately began two weeks of preparation to play a former PGA Tour course in Reno, Nevada.

NCAA golf

"It was really awesome, and I was really excited for the guys," said Lopes head coach Mark Mueller, who also led 2023 and 2024 NCAA regional qualifiers. "I want to thank God for this opportunity and the executive team and administration and everybody that helps our program. They're all part of this. An at-large bid is really awesome, and it reinforces the year and the body of work that these guys put in for over a year."

The Lopes finished as the WAC Championship runner-ups on Sunday. It was part of what they accomplished this season to earn a No. 58 national ranking and No. 10 seeding in the Reno Regional, one of six NCAA regionals with 81 qualifying teams. GCU accumulated a 108-41-1 record by winning the GCU Invitational, placing second at the Southern Dunes Invitational and WAC Championship and taking third at the 17-team Desert Mountain Invitational.

"How they performed from tournament to tournament, that's what gets you into regionals," Mueller said. "Every tournament in the fall counts just as much as every tournament in the spring. I'm just really happy for them. You have to come out ready to compete right away, and that's what these guys did. They love to golf, and they've been serious since they got here (in August). The expectation was to get here one way or another."

Only 27 other teams in the nation beat more opponents this season than the Lopes did with their 108-41-1 record. Mueller said GCU's year-long consistency was a credit to the players, Lopes assistant coaches Mike Schaloum and Jesse Mueller and the GCU Golf Couse staff.

"It's a reward for what we did all year," said Lopes captain Tommaso Zorzetto, a graduate student who came from Padova, Italy, to join the program in 2020. "It's truly cool. I was thinking about it this morning that, regardless of the outcome of conference, this is a special moment that we're in regionals. It shows that all year we competed to the best of our abilities, and we did a pretty job."

GCU will face a Reno Regional field that also includes:

No. 4 Texas
No. 9 Virginia
No. 16 Alabama
No. 21 Duke
No. 28 Mississippi State
No. 33 BYU
No. 40 San Diego
No. 45 Santa Clara
No. 53 California
No. 66 Sam Houston
No. 88 East Tennessee State
No. 161 Central Arkansas
No. 224 Fairfield

Men's Golf competing in the John A. Burns Intercollegiate in Lihue, Hawaii, at the Ocean Course Hokuala

Lopes senior Kiko Coelho transferred from Arizona State to GCU last summer to pursue this type of opportunity to be in GCU's starting lineup and make his first NCAA regional appearance.

"After going through what we went through last weekend at the conference tournament, there is a lot of emotion and a lot of pride and a lot of love for my teammates," said Coelho,who is from Portugal and went to high school in Lake Mary, Florida. "I'm just glad that we get to do it together.

"We definitely earned the opportunity to get this second chance throughout the year with our play. I can definitively see everyone has a different face to them. We can use this week to work hard and get whatever we need to get right to compete at regionals."

With California freshmen Matthew Diehl and Nixon Lauritzen and sophomore Gavin O'Neill joining Zozetto and Coelho, GCU rallied from a double-digit deficit Sunday to take a final-round lead at the WAC Championship. But Seattle U secured the conference's automatic berth when it edged the Lopes by three strokes in Payson, Arizona.

GCU remained optimistic about its postseason chances because of its full-season performance but had to wait for the official word from Wednesday's selection show. WAC Championship medalist Dane Huddleston of Utah Valley, a five-time winner this season, also will play the Reno Regional as an individual qualifier.

"It was really hurtful to lose conference because it was a three-peat kind of deal that meant a lot for Coach, the program, the president and everyone who was there to see it," Zorzetto said. "But the only way we can go through this and be better and learn from it is knowing God has a plan.

"This may be something that humbles us. It will make us better in the next few days and make us practice harder than maybe we imagined we needed. Maybe it's a bigger plan and we can final get to La Costa. We just need to focus, practice to the best of our abilities and give the best of our efforts."

The NCAA Championship will be played May 23-28 at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa's North Course.

Grand Canyon University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Kiko Coelho

Matthew Diehl

Nixon Lauritzen

Gavin O'Neill

Tommaso Zorzetto

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