BATON ROUGE, La. — Zander Lozano tied for 24th place at the NCAA Championships Men's Golf Baton Rouge Regional, which wrapped up on Wednesday at the University Club (par 72/7,372 yards).
Lozano wrote down five birdies en route to a final-round 74. Teeing off on No. 10, the Fair Oaks Ranch native posted birdie-threes on Nos. 10, 13 and 15 and then birdied back-to-back holes on the front nine when he recorded a four on the 578-yard third and a three on the 375-yard fourth. He finished the 54-hole tournament with 12 birdies, which was tied for the second-highest total in the 75-man field.
A second-team All-Conference USA selection, Lozano finished in an eight-way tie for 24th with an 8-over-par 224 (77-73-74). It marks the highest NCAA finish by a Roadrunner in three postseason appearances in program history.
"I think I played pretty well overall," Lozano said. "I had a couple of bad swings off the tee and I ended up making a few large numbers, which cost me. It was a great experience, though, and I look forward to trying to get back to the national championships next year with my team."
Lozano rounded out his third collegiate campaign with a team-best 72.03 stroke average and seven top-20 finishes, including a pair of individual titles. He will enter his senior season with 10 career top 10s and a school-record 16 sub-70 rounds.
"I was very pleased to see that Zander showed resiliency all week," head coach John Knauer said. "If he had a bad hole, he battled back on the next. He was actually just a few swings away from advancing as as individual. In the long run, this was a great experience for him and one that he can relay to his teammates. To finish top 25 at this level and to now own the best NCAA postseason finish in school history is a great accomplishment."
No. 6 LSU finished atop the team leaderboard with a 2-over 866 behind individual medalist Sam Burns, who fired a 4-under 212 (65-72-75). No. 19 Duke (874), seventh-ranked Oregon (879), No. 18 Virginia (881) and No. 42 Jacksonville (883) rounded out the top five teams that earned an automatic qualifying spot in the NCAA Championships that will be played from May 26-31.
Mason Overstreet of Arkansas finished sixth with a 218 (73-78-67) to earn the lone individual berth to nationals.
