PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The Chaminade University men's golf team wrapped up their 2023-24 season with a bang on Wednesday, capturing the PGA WORKS Collegiate Championship (PWCC) Men's Division II title at the famed par-72 TPC Sawgrass Dye's Valley Course.
The Silverswords shot a final round 308 for a three-day total of 931, winning by a single shot over Lincoln University of Missouri to bring home the school's first national postseason championship in any sport.
"I'm so excited for them to bring home a national title to Chaminade," 11th-year head coach
Renee Yuen said. "They've worked hard all year to become more competitive at tournaments."
Ethan Alexander (New Rochelle, N.Y./Fordham Prep) fired a 1-under-par 71 to finish as the Division II runner-up at 6-over 222, just two shots behind medalist Austin Shoemaker of Lincoln.
Jack Yeager (San Clemente, Calif./JSerra Catholic) also enjoyed a top 10 finish, carding a 6-over to post a 229, good enough for eighth place.
Ky Stopp (Long Beach, Calif./Woodrow Wilson) shot 82 in the final round, giving him a 244 while
Blake Buonopane (Rowley, Mass./St. John's Prep) saved his best score of the tournament for the final day, carding a 4-over 76 for a 245.
Zachary DuBourdieu (Carlsbad, Calif./Sage Creek) withdrew midway through the final round.
Entering the final round in third place but just four shots off the lead, the 'Swords got a huge lift from Buonopane, their No. 5 placer, who parred his first eight holes starting at the par-4 10th. Alexander followed suit with a 1-under through his first nine holes while Yeager bounced back after three opening bogeys with birdies on 15 and 17. Stopp, who had four straight bogeys starting on 11, righted his ship with four straight pars to finish the front nine, allowing Chaminade to overtake Lincoln at the turn.
The 'Swords' lead down the stretch swelled to as many as five strokes over the Blue Tigers thanks to Alexander's bogey-free back nine, along with birdies on holes 1 and 2.
All four CUH golfers parred holes 6 through 8, giving them a two-shot lead with just Yeager left to finish his round. Needing at least a bogey on the ninth to secure the PWCC win, the sophomore did just that, giving the Silverswords their first major national tournament championship.
"The PGA put on a great event and to win at a course like TPC Sawgrass is awesome," Yuen said.
Called "the most culturally significant championship in collegiate golf," the PGA WORKS Collegiate Championship hosts student-athletes enrolled in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and other Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) across all three NCAA divisions, NAIA and junior colleges. Chaminade is a Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) Serving institution.
The PWCC also conducted championships in men's Division I team (won by Florida A&M), men's Division I medalist (Marcus Taylor of Florida A&M), women's team (Texas A&M Corpus Christi), women's medalist (Kendall Jackson of Howard University), men's individual (Yuqi Liu of the University of Michigan) and women's individual (Una Chou of the University of British Columbia).
