A season of growth: AU men’s golf reaches NCAA championship against the odds

By Rodrigo Burgos-Avila | Editor in chief 

After an inconsistent season, the Augusta University men's golf team pulled it all together at the right time and advanced to the NCAA Division I championship.

The 2024-25 season started with Hurricane Helene, leaving the program scrambling for a place to practice as Forest Hills was decimated by the storm. After the fall season, the team opened the spring season with an 11th-place finish in Charleston, S.C., in the Battle at Briar’s Creek.

Then the Jaguars finished third in the Seminole Invitational, and things started to brighten for AU, culminating an excellent regional and qualification for the nationals.

The Jags placed 27th out of 30 teams at the recently completed national event, held at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. It was not the result the team had hoped for, but simply qualifying for the event was a giant step in a season that had tested their resolve from the very start.

Pacing Augusta was Bo Blanchard II, who fired a 5-over-par score through three rounds. Although he did just missed making the cut for the last round of individual competition, Blanchard was the Jaguars' top performer and an important cog in their late-season run.

Even though the team did not survive the 54-hole cut, their nationals berth reflected how far the Jaguars had come. At one point in the season, this plateau did not seem likely. But in the final few events, Augusta built up momentum mentally and physically and strung together the efforts needed to extend their season into late May.

Competing against some of the country's top programs, the likes of Texas, Auburn and Ole Miss, Augusta embraced the underdog role. The experience of competing on college golf's biggest stage will be a wonderful building block for the program moving forward.

Augusta University may not have emerged victorious, but their run to the NCAA Championship showed determination, progression, and potential. That's a good foundation to build on.

The season included another Southland Conference championship for Coach Steven Paine’s program and a fifth-place finish in the Tallahassee regional.

Oklahoma State won the team title, defeating Virginia in the final 4-1. OSU beat Ole Miss and Virginia toppled Florida in the semifinals.

Michael La Sasso of Mississippi won the individual title.

Note: At the top of the page is Bo Blanchard II, who had a stellar spring to propel AU to the nationals in California. (photo by Tim Cowie/special to the Bell Ringer)

Contact Rodrigo Burgos-Avila at rburgosavila@augusta.edu.

AU’s Stefan Jacobs rolls a putt during the NCAA Division I championships in Carlsbad, Calif. (photo by Tim Cowie/special to the Bell Ringer)