The Season Continues: Ott Advances to NCAA Championships

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Oct 14

Men's Golf

at Oregon State Invitational Day 1

Oct 15

Men's Golf

at Oregon State Invitational Day 2

Oct 27

Men's Golf

at The Preserve Golf Club Collegiate Day 1

Oct 28

Men's Golf

at The Preserve Golf Club Collegiate Day 2

Jan 26

Men's Golf

at Southwestern Intercollegiate Day 1

STILLWATER, Okla. – The target was clear. As muddy water.

To qualify for the NCAA Championships, all Colorado State senior AJ Ott had to do was be the top individual finisher not on a qualifying team. With numbers changing throughout the day, he had his goal firmly in mind, but he didn't exactly know who he was competing against. Not even on the final hole of the day.

Which he birdied, giving him three rounds of under-par at Karsten Creek Golf Club in the Stillwater Regional, finishing with a three-day total of 211, his 5-under final number putting him in a tie for third overall individually, but more importantly, the top gun not associated with a team advancing.

"It's very cool. I'm just excited to represent CSU," Ott said. "I wish my team was out there, but it's been a great week. We've been trying to have a lot of fun. I think that's a huge key when you're playing in postseason stuff is you have to remember to have fun."

Ott becomes just the second Colorado State men's golfer to individually qualify for the NCAA's, with Nigel Spence doing so in 1998; when Spence did it, he was at the regional with the team. The NCAA Championships run May 28-June 2 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Ott was one of only four players in the field to play all three rounds under par – two squeezed in on Monday due to threatening weather reports – with Noah Goodwin of SMU taking the individual title with a 15-under 201. In his final round, Ott bogeyed two of the first four holes, but birdied two of the next three to hit the turn at even. Successive birdies on 14 and 15 put him at 1-under, and after his fourth bogey of the day on No. 17, he came back with a birdie on the par-5 final hole to secure his spot.

"That number for the individual moves all over the board, because you don't know what team is going to make it, what team is not going to make it," CSU coach Christian Newton said. "Right at the last second it changed. It's the ultimate test in patience. You do as good as you can do and you add it up at the end."

Up to that point, it looked as if Auburn was going to take the fifth and final team spot, but Little Rock produced four birdies on the final hole to pass the Tigers, and Ryan Grider of Baylor became Ott's biggest threat, but he finished two strokes back.

Unlike players on teams, Ott had no protection if he had a bad stretch of play, even for just a couple of holes. So he didn't. And staying positive on a tough course is never easy. It was a challenge which started with a poor practice round on Sunday.

"For me, when you're playing a tough course like that, it's really easy to get ahead of yourself," Ott said. "You really just have to focus on each shot, because you can't really take a break out there. It's just staying steady, and I had (assistant coach) Parker Edens walking with me, giving me yardages and basically caddying for me this week. He did a great job. We chatted in between holes, and I honestly really wasn't trying to think about going to the national championship until the last couple of holes. I was really just trying to stay my best to stay positive."

Not only did his competition target change, the course did. The first day, it was soft and players could be more aggressive. Early on Tuesday, there were stern winds to contend with, which to Ott meant bogeys would be part of his day.

But the two which came early felt almost like pars to him, considering some of the situations he put himself in, and the fact he rebounded with birdies soon after, Ott was able to remain in control of his emotions.

In fact, Newton felt his entire game was steady throughout.

"He putted really well all week. He made a lot of putts all week, and it's a really difficult golf course," Newton said. "For the most part he drove it really good, kept it in the fairway. He wedged it really good, so he was just playing within himself and stuck to his game plan the whole time with a pretty awesome result. I'm pretty happy for him."

Ott's score at regionals was the fourth best in history for CSU in relation to par. Being tied for third ranks second as the best finish at regionals, with Spence tying for second 1999.

As the day started, Ott avoided the thought of what could be and just played the course. However, the final three holes, part of him wanted to know where he sat, the other half just fine being ignorant to his place in the chase.

"I didn't really wanted to know. I kinda wanted to know on 18, because I hit a ball on the fairway on 18 and in the back of my mind, I wanted to rip a 3- or 4-iron, because it was a par-5," Ott said. "Then I was just kinda thinking, I've been wedging well all week, so I really didn't want to know. That course was tough. I just had my mind on hitting good shots and then whatever the result was I would just accept it."

Naturally, it was easy for him to accept his first trip to the NCAA Championships, which has been a five-year goal for the hometown talent with a global pandemic to navigate thrown into the mix.

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