NCAA Regional at Yale Thurs, Friday & Saturday

[Colin Sheehan]

Dear GCA'ers,

I would like to invite those of you in the northeast to consider watching the NCAA Regionals at Yale on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Admission is free. Visiting teams include Vanderbilt, LSU, Oklahoma State, South Florida, Arkansas, San Diego State and Iowa among others. Come watch 18 to 22-year-olds tackle the 89-year-old behemoth--and see the course in fantastic condition.

The tournament organizers are still looking for volunteers to serve as walking scorers with each group. Anyone interested in doing so last minute can follow this link.  http://thecourseatyale.org/2015-mens-ncaa-east-regional-volunteer-registration/

And here's a clip promoting the event last night on the local news.

http://sportzedge.com/2015/05/12/yale-to-host-ncaa-regional-golf-tournament/

And if we need to debate something Yale course related. I'll propose this. After National, is Yale currently the next finest showcase of C.B. Macdonald's architectural principals?

Regards,
Colin

[abmack]

Dear GCA'ers,

I would like to invite those of you in the northeast to consider watching the NCAA Regionals at Yale on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Admission is free. Visiting teams include Vanderbilt, LSU, Oklahoma State, South Florida, Arkansas, San Diego State and Iowa among others. Come watch 18 to 22-year-olds tackle the 89-year-old behemoth--and see the course in fantastic condition.

The tournament organizers are still looking for volunteers to serve as walking scorers with each group. Anyone interested in doing so last minute can follow this link.  http://thecourseatyale.org/2015-mens-ncaa-east-regional-volunteer-registration/

And here's a clip promoting the event last night on the local news.

http://sportzedge.com/2015/05/12/yale-to-host-ncaa-regional-golf-tournament/

And if we need to debate something Yale course related. I'll propose this. After National, is Yale currently the next finest showcase of C.B. Macdonald's architectural principals?

Regards,
Colin

Colin,

I couldn't agree more. Though I pains me to admit that there is something good about Yale  , The golf course is special. I agree that it's among the finest examples Mac-Ray-Banks work! I just checked my Bahto and he seems to think that Macdonald only consulted at Yale and that it's mostly Raynor. Is this true? I've heard conflicting things.

I look forward to coming down in the next few weeks to see the course in great shape!

Andrew

[Benjamin Litman]

Thanks for the reminder, Colin. I'll do my best to be there (although I might now have a conflict on Saturday) and, if I can make it, to help out while there.

[Matt Albanese]

I will be there Thursday and Friday. I can't wait to see the course since I've heard so much about it.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Colin,

I know it won't happen, but I wish it was televised.

I was surprised that the modern day Walker Cup golfer didn't overpower NGLA, so I'd love to see how the modern day golfer plays those wonderful holes at Yale.

For those that attend, please report back to us.

[Jason Kang]

I don't recall hearing any crazy low scores in 2010.  On the other end of the spectrum, there's that poor kid who took a 9(?) on 9...  

Specifically, I would like to hear how the boys play their tee balls this year on 3 and 14...it's my understanding that John Daly drove into the 4th fairway so he could see the 3rd green (bring back the punchbowl!) when he played the course as a professional many moons ago...have also observed kids playing mid-irons off 14 tee in order to gain a non-hanging lie in the fairway?  please confirm or deny any sightings, thanks.  what a great truly special course place.  have a great weekend.  

Colin,

I know it won't happen, but I wish it was televised.

I was surprised that the modern day Walker Cup golfer didn't overpower NGLA, so I'd love to see how the modern day golfer plays those wonderful holes at Yale.

For those that attend, please report back to us.

[David Cronheim]

I agree with Colin - outside of National, I think Yale is the best display of McDonald/Raynor/Banks architecture anywhere because it is so bold. It may not be the best course M/R/B out of the set outside of National (though I think that's also a colorable argument) it may be the best show piece because the course contains some of the wildest versions of their template holes to be found anywhere. I enjoy the subtleties of some of their other courses, but for showing people what their style was all about, it's hard to beat Yale. Just a ton of "wow" moments - more than any inland course I can think of by a wide margin.

[Colin Sheehan]

The scores are much higher than I expected. Conditions are fairly benign, yet LSU, a top ten team, has all five of their players either +3 or +4.

Here's the link to the live scoring:
http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=7939

Scores by team:
http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=7939

Scores by individual:
http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=player&tid=7939

[Andrew Buck]

The scores are much higher than I expected. Conditions are fairly benign, yet LSU, a top ten team, has all five of their players either +3 or +4.

Here's the link to the live scoring:
http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=7939

Scores by team:
http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=7939

Scores by individual:
http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=player&tid=7939

I'm pretty sure last year in Yale's tournament, Illinois shot something like 30 or 35 under for the three rounds to win by a wide margin. 

[Tim Gavrich]

I'd love to see the hole location sheets for the three competition days, if they are available. I don't think there are too many courses in the world where over three days, the changing of the hole locations could have so great an effect on the scoring on so many holes as at Yale.

[Matt Albanese]

I'd love to see the hole location sheets for the three competition days, if they are available. I don't think there are too many courses in the world where over three days, the changing of the hole locations could have so great an effect on the scoring on so many holes as at Yale.

There appeared to be some hard hole locations out there today. But, scoring was higher than I expected. I'll see what I can do about hole location sheets.

[Benjamin Litman]

Today was glorious. Perfectly blue skies, virtually no wind (except for later in the afternoon, after play ended), and my favorite course in the world looking every bit the jewel it is. I also had the honor of finally meeting Colin, who was very generous with his time.

I took many pictures (including after play had concluded--i.e., when the course was empty), and I'll post some either later tonight or early in the morning. I also have a pin sheet somewhere, which I'll post as well. But, from memory, the pins were 1 (front right), 2 (front right), 3 (didn't make it out to 3 green, but I believe it was front as well), 4 (front right, over the "Road" bunker), 5 (front center; a true birdie pin, and indeed I saw a threesome make 3 2s), 6 (middle right), 7 (didn't make it out there, but almost any pin location on that diabolical green is brutal), 8 (back right, which was tricky for the many players who drove it over the fairway ridge--the hole was downwind--as judging the subsequent downwind pitch to a green falling away was difficult), 9 (front left, also known as the location where I made my one and only birdie on the hole 15 years ago; Colin told me that, due to turf conditions, they unfortunately will not be using the back tier during any of the three rounds), 10 (very front left), 11 (middle left), 12 (back right), 13 (middle left), 14 (middle left), 15 (middle right), 16 (middle left), 17 (back right), and 18 (back left).

Believe it or not, someone (from South Florida, but not Brooks Koepka's younger brother Chase) shot 64, which, at last check of the scoring board, was a full 5 shots better than the next best score. Unreal. (Just checked online, and it ended up 4 shots better than the two 68s posted. The golfer's name is Rigel Fernandes.)

[Benjamin Litman]

As I wait for my pictures to upload (probably won't post them until tomorrow), I want to go back to Pat's earlier observation that no one at the Walker Cup overpowered NGLA in 2013. With Mr. Fernandes's as the lone exception, the same can be said for Yale, which played at approximately 6,800 yards). Particularly striking is how much harder Yale played than any of the other venues used for this year's NCAA Men's Regionals. Check out these scores (from this Golf Channel article: http://www.golfchannel.com/news/college-central/day-1-wrap-ncaa-mens-golf-regionals/.)

Here are the first-round results from the Chapel Hill (N.C.), Noblesville (Ind.), Yale (Conn.), Lubbock (Texas), San Diego (Calif.) and Bremerton (Wash.) regionals. Live scoring on Golfstat.com can be found here.

Chapel Hill Regional, at Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill, N.C.:

Leader: Charlotte (-13)

Second place: Florida (-7)

Individual leader: Will Register, North Carolina (-6)

Rest of the top 5: Florida State (-4), Clemson (-4), North Carolina (-2)

Work to do: Kennesaw State (-1), Stanford (+2), Penn State (+4), Wake Forest (+6)

Skinny: Charlotte might be the 50th-ranked team entering regionals, but it sure didn’t play like it Thursday. Three 49ers players shot 68 in the opening round. The Gators, coming off a seventh-place showing at SECs, also were a surprise in Round 1, counting three scores of 70 or better. Most of the higher-seeded teams got off to a decent start, but fourth-seeded Wake Forest has the most work to do. The Demon Deacons were forced to use a 76 Thursday after No. 2 Davis Womble shot 5 over.

New Haven Regional, at The Course at Yale in New Haven, Conn.:

Leader: South Florida (+1)

Second place: Ohio State (+2)

Individual leader: Rigel Fernandes, South Florida (-6)

Rest of the top 5: San Diego State (+4), Vanderbilt (+5), Oklahoma State (+9)

Work to do: Troy (+9), N.C. State (+9), Iowa (+11), LSU (+14)

Skinny: Only four players broke par on Day 1 here. Not surprisingly, no team finished the first round under par, with South Florida – which is hosting this year’s NCAAs – leading the way. Fernandes’ eight-birdie 64 was four shots better than any other score on Day 1. Second-seeded LSU struggled mightily in the opening round, with no player recording a round under 73. As a team, the Tigers only recorded six birdies.

Noblesville Regional, at Sagamore Golf Club in Noblesville, Ind:

Leader: Colorado (-11)

Second place: Illinois and SMU (-3)

Individual leader: Benjamin Baxter, SMU; David Oraee, Colorado; Jeremy Paul, Colorado all at -4

Rest of the top 5: UCLA (+5), UNLV (+7)

Work to do: Oregon (+9), Alabama (+10), Georgia Southern (+13), Virginia Tech (+21)

Skinny: Colorado, which hasn’t reached an NCAA finals since 2002, got off to a torrid start here with all four players under par after Day 1 and their top two - Paul and Ocaee - as the co-leaders. Can the Buffaloes keep it up? This is a ninth-seeded team coming off an 11th-place showing at the Pac-12 Championship, but it is now 20 shots clear of the sixth-place team. Two-time defending NCAA champion Alabama will begin the second round in seventh place, after a 10-over start. No. 1 man Robby Shelton shot 74 on Day 1. Only 13 players broke par in the first round here.

Lubbock Regional, at the Rawls Course in Lubbock, Texas:

Leader: Texas (-11)

Second place: Houston (-10)

Individual leader: Austin Eoff, Purdue (-6)

Rest of the top 5: Duke (-8), Texas Tech (-6), Purdue and California (-5)

Work to do: Auburn (-4), Louisville (-1), North Florida (+7)

Skinny: No surprise, top-seeded Texas continued to roll with four players shooting 69 or better, including a 66 out of lead man Beau Hossler. The Blue Devils got solid 67s from Jake Shuman and Turner Southey-Gordon, Duke's Nos. 3 and 4, respectively. This is a tightly bunched leaderboard, with nine teams separated by nine shots.

Bremerton Regional, at Gold Mountain in Bremerton, Wash.:

Leader: UAB (-8)

Second place: TCU and USC (-7)

Individual leader: Sean Crocker, USC (-6)

Rest of the top 5: Iowa State and Washington (-1)

Work to do: South Carolina (E), UC Davis (+1), Michigan (+4), Baylor (+5)

Skinny: Solid opening rounds from Paul Dunne (67) and Martin Rohwer (68) put the Blazers atop the leaderboard after Day 1. They’ve been playing better of late, with a pair of wins and a second-place showing at the Conference USA Championship in their past three starts. USC’s Sean Crocker, one of the nation’s top freshmen, closed with six consecutive birdies for a back-nine 30 and opening 66. That leaves him one shot clear of Hogan Award finalist Cheng-Tsung Pan, who is playing on one of Washington’s home courses. Top seed South Carolina flew all the way across the country, but a solid opening round in which the Gamecocks took no higher than a 73 leaves them in good shape heading into the second round.

San Diego Regional, at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.:

Leader: Oklahoma (-4)

Second place: East Tennessee State (+1)

Individual leader: Grant Hirschman, Oklahoma; Gudmundur Kristjansson, East Tennessee State; Grant Bennett, Wichita State all at -3

Rest of the top 5: Wichita State (+4), St. Mary’s (+7), San Diego and Virginia (+9)

Work to do: Georgia Tech (+11), Eastern Kentucky (+11), Arizona State (+13), New Mexico (+15), Georgia (+19)

Skinny: So much for chalk here. Oklahoma has three players inside the top 6 individually as it looks to qualify for its fifth consecutive NCAA finals, but not much else went according to plan. Fortunately for top seeds Arizona State and Georgia Tech, poor first rounds leave them only a handful of shots behind the all-important fifth spot. Arizona State’s Jon Rahm, still in contention for national player of the year honors, mixed seven birdies with two doubles and a triple during an opening 73 that left him four back. Three of the top five teams on the leaderboard are the lowest seeds in the regional.

[Benjamin Litman]

Here's an article (apparently unedited) about yesterday's first round--http://www.nhregister.com/sports/20150514/usfs-rigel-fernandes-leads-ncaa-golf-regional-at-yale-northwesterns-dylan-wu-making-most-of-second-chance--with this nice note about Mr. Fernandes's background:

It wasn’t the best round of his season — he shot seven-under 64 at the Querencia Invitation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico — though it’s the best in South Florida’s Division I NCAA tournament history.

Fernandes, born in India and raised in Dubai, left home at age 10 for boarding school in Florida to pursue his professional golf dreams. His family, despite an 8-hour time difference, on Thursday followed his progress online, and he spoke with his father shortly after finishing his round.

“They’re about ready for bed,” Fernandes said. “I think I’m ready, too.”

***

After uploading my pictures, I've decided I have enough good ones to create a photo tour (maybe two, one of my black-and-white pictures, one of my color pictures), so I will do so in the next few days. In the meantime, here are a few to give you a sense of how the course looked yesterday with the players and fans out and about (I'll save most of the people-less pictures for the separate photo tours).

NCAA banners were everywhere (here by the front gate):


Yale pulled out all the stops for the NCAA Regionals; here, an inflated (think Macy's-Thanksgiving-parade-sized) Handsome Dan (that's the first hole in the distance):


Hole 1 (as soon as you park your car, the view out over the 1st hole gets the juices flowing)


Hole 1 (tee)


Hole 2 (green, looking backward with 2 fairway left and 1 fairway right)


Hole 3 (fairway)


Hole 4 (looking back down the hole from back right of the green; here, a competitor chips from short of the "Road" bunker)


Hole 5 (green, with the dogleg-left 6th fairway in the distance)


Hole 6 (fairway)


Hole 9 (a good thing a spotter patrolled the front bank, as many, many tee shots to the front-left pin came up short)


Hole 10 (tee viewed from the hill on the side, with the practice bunker and 18th hole in the distance to the right)


Hole 12 (looking back down "Alps" from behind the green)


Hole 13 (the "Redan" green)


Hole 14 (tee)


Hole 15 (green; that's Oklahoma State's Jordan Niebrugge, who played in the 2013 Walker Cup, marking his ball)


Hole 16 (tee)


Hole 18 (waiting for groups to finish short right of the green)

[JJShanley]

I really should figure out if Yale has any archives relating to the history of Maryland during the eighteenth century.

[Benjamin Litman]

JJ: You must not know about Yale's famous Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, which houses, among other things, two volumes of an original Gutenberg Bible and archives of pretty much everything. The library is so amazing (inside and out) that I both wrote a paper about it for an architecture class and spent much of a semester in it scrolling through microfiche of European propagandist newspapers. So, yes, I'm sure it covers 18th-century Maryland, too.

[Benjamin Litman]

Assuming my eyes are not deceiving me (see Golfstat's leaderboard here: http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=teamPlayer&tid=7939), Oklahoma State's Jordan Niebrugge--pictured in my photo of the 15th green above--broke the course record today with a 62. Wow, and bravo.

[Matt Albanese]

Assuming my eyes are not deceiving me (see Golfstat's leaderboard here: http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=teamPlayer&tid=7939), Oklahoma State's Jordan Niebrugge--pictured in my photo of the 15th green above--broke the course record today with a 62. Wow, and bravo.

I had the pleasure of seeing him play a few holes today. He played a tremendous round. Very impressive.

[Tim Martin]

Although there are plenty of fine players as evidenced by the 62 yesterday by Jordan Niebrugge the star of the tournament is the golf course. Scott Ramsay and his crew did a remarkable job in getting the golf course ready after a brutal Winter. I walked 9 holes with a friend yesterday who hadn't seen the golf course in close to ten years and he was amazed at the transformation. It certainly is worthy of all the accolades it has received this week.

[JBovay]

Wish I had been able to come out and watch, but yesterday was not the most convenient for me.

Colin and others who were there: was there much flexibility in the way the tees were set up, or were they always on the back box? A few holes out there have significantly different angles and distances that affect strategies. I'm particularly curious about 10 and 18, and whether the space directly behind the 16th green was ever used on 17.

JB

[Patrick_Mucci]

Were there any holes where drives were measured ?

[Joe Bausch]

For those that would like some more color photos of Yale:

http://xchem.villanova.edu/~bausch/images/albums/Yale/

[Colin Sheehan]

Here's a 149-image slideshow from the 2009 and 2011 Spring Openers.

http://david-ottenstein.photoshelter.com/gallery/Spring-Opener-selections-09-11/G00007r.AXp8OfWE/0/3


Meanwhile, there was not much in the way of flexibility regarding the tees during Regionals and they did not play the course all the way back. They used the high tee on five all three days (130 yards), they used the 212 tee on 13. They used the normal back tee on 16. The turf so very firm (on Thursday and Friday in particular) and I one of the longest golfers in the field reach 18 (from the 621 tee) with a driver and 3-iron on Saturday!? In the practice round, that same golfer (Brandon Mathews from Temple) drove it through the fairway on 17 into the rough just short of the Principal's Nose.

[Benjamin Litman]

Thanks for posting the Spring Opener action shots from years past, Colin--nice to see I'm not the only one who thinks the course looks stunning in black and white.

That said, below, as promised, are several more color pictures from my trip to Yale last Thursday for the NCAA Regionals. I am not including pictures that I already posted earlier in this thread or that I took from the same vantage point as, and therefore are duplicative of, the black-and-white pictures in my separate photo tour (http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,61039.0.html). I still plan to compile and post a full color photo tour in the fall, when the course's colors are at their most vibrant.

Again, bravo to Scott Ramsay and his entire staff for presenting such an amazing course in such spectacular condition. It was, as always but particularly so, a true delight to walk.

Hole 1 (the famous opening tee ball over Griest Pond, in the afternoon light and shadows)




Hole 2 (back-left green falloff, looking backward over the 1st fairway with the 8th green in the distance)


Hole 2 (contemplating the "pits" from left of the fairway, a common miss off the tee)


Hole 3 (3rd fairway is to the left, 4th fairway is to the right)


Hole 4 (green, with the "Road" bunker in the foreground)


Hole 4 (looking back down the fairway and out over the pond to the 3rd green; the 4th tee is perched on the hill to the right of the 3rd green)


Hole 4 (green, looking back down the fairway; as at St. Andrews's 17th, the "Road" bunker at front right is not visible from the green)


Hole 5 (tee)


Hole 5 (the "moat" green) (the dogleg-left 6th fairway is in the distance)


Hole 7 (tee)


Hole 7 (fairway, with the amazingly fast and amazingly contoured green perched high in the distance)


Hole 9 (the golfer's first glimpse of the famous "Biarritz" comes while walking up to the first fairway and looking right over Griest Pond)


Hole 9 (the second glimpse comes as the player reaches the 8th green)


Hole 9 (tee; my trip last Thursday confirmed the suspicion I had after playing Streamsong in December--Coore & Crenshaw almost certainly were inspired by Yale's "Biarritz" in designing the 16th at Streamsong's Red Course)


Hole 9 (a wider view from the tee; note the tree clearing ongoing to the left of the walking path)


Hole 9 (forward tee, which--unwelcomingly, I imagine--was used as the drop zone for last week's NCAA Regionals)


Hole 9 (the view back across Griest Pond toward the 1st tee and the 2nd green is one of many jaw-dropping sights at Yale)


Hole 9 (looking out over the "Biarritz" swale on the green and off to the 2nd green across Griest Pond in the distance)


Hole 9 (a few more views of the swale)




Hole 10 (green, with fairway in the distance; that front-right knob makes front-right pin positions diabolical)


Hole 11 (a view down the hole from the Dogwood tree near the base of the tee)


Hole 12 (the steadily climbing "Alps" fairway, with the green sunken, and obscured entirely from view, over the final ridge in the distance)


Hole 12 (green)


Hole 12 (this reverse view shows the aiming flagpole and the large bunker hidden over the final "Alps" ridge)


Hole 13 (tee)


Hole 13 (the Japanese garden by the pond below the tee designed by Harry Meusel, Yale's superintendent in the 1950s)


Hole 13 (green viewed from behind)


Hole 13 (green viewed from the hill short right of the green; note the dark-green front part of the green--to get the right-to-left Redan effect, tee shots must carry that false front)


Hole 14 (a view down the hole from in front of the tee)


Hole 14 (fairway; the mounds on the left create a "speed slot" of sorts on the right)


Hole 14 (the green is a square, relatively (for Yale) small plateau that sits a good 10 feet above the fairway; as with Augusta National's 14th, Yale's 14th is the course's only hole without a bunker)


Hole 14 (green, looking back down the gentle dogleg-right fairway)


Hole 14 (looking back over the hole from the 15th tee; Yale, thanks to tree clearing in recent years, offers numerous spectacular vantages across holes)


Hole 15 (the par-3 "Eden" hole)


Hole 15 (front and right greenside bunker)


Hole 16 (carrying the left side of the ridge in the fairway will add significant distance off the tee and allow the golfer to get home in two shots)


Hole 17 (watching one's tee shot soar over the pond and then the hill obscuring the fairway is one of the great thrills of playing golf at Yale)


Hole 17 (the Principal's Nose; only one of the three (!) nostrils is visible, the other two are to the left of the nose and over the nose's bridge)


Hole 17 (looking over the green from the right with 18 climbing in the distance)


Hole 18 (tee, with the 17th green and fairway, including the Principal's Nose, visible to the left)


Hole 18 (carrying the hill to the right off the tee is not even half the battle on the wild journey that is the par-5 18th)


Hole 18 (looking up at the split fairway--high left and low right--from behind the green)


Hole 18 (looking back toward the tee from the top of the high-left fairway)


Hole 18 (looking down at the green from the high-left fairway)


Hole 18 (green, looking backward up the split fairway)

[David Harshbarger]

Benjamin, I think you've put together one of the best of the Yale photo tours.  With so many photos off the typical angles (tee, approach, green), you capture so much of the context and scale.  And when you go through hole after hole, wow, what a tour de force.  Thanks for posting and taking the time to compile and share.

Best, Dave