Men’s College Golf: Ten On Course

The Top 10 men’s players representing California colleges

The NCAA Men’s Division I Golf Championship takes place May 29-June 3 at The Concession Club in Bradenton, Fla. As usual, multiple teams from California universities are expected to compete for the title, led by an elite group of individuals. Here’s a look at the Top 10 golfers representing men’s teams in the Golden State as they gear up for championship season.

Maverick McNealy
McNealy is having a remarkable sophomore campaign with the Cardinal. Wins at The Prestige atPGAWest and The Goodwin, as well as a runner-up finish at the Amer Ari Invitational in Hawaii, have pushed the son of Sun Microsystems co-founder Scott McNealy to a top-10 world ranking. McNealy is using these wins to build upon an already impressive run started at the beginning of the 2014-2015 season when he captured the Fighting Illini Invitational and the Southwestern Intercollegiate in the fall.

Shotaro Ban
San Jose native Shotaro Ban is leading his California Golden Bears team in his junior season. Along with a victory at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate, he has two runner-up finishes in 2015 including the Western Intercollegiate, as well as the Saguaro Amateur in January. He also tied for third at the Arizona Intercollegiate, the team’s first event of 2015. As the current lineup has no seniors, Ban and fellow junior Keelan Kilpatrick have filled the needed leadership roles.

 Xander Schauffele
Schauffele, of San Diego, finished runner-up to Maverick McNealy at the Prestige atPGAWest. The leader of the Aztecs all year captured the team’s host event, the Barona Collegiate Cup, by three shots over his teammate Naham Mendoza III, who happened to be playing as an individual that tournament. Schauffele grabbed another second-place finish at the National Invitational. Schauffele’s claim to fame from the 2014 calendar year was, yet again, another runner-up finish, this time at the Western Amateur where he lost to fellow Californian Beau Hossler two-down in the 18-hole final.

Rico Hoey
The 2014 U.S. Amateur Public Links medalist and quarterfinalist was the Trojans’ top returning golfer for the 2014-2015 season. Along with Ban, Hoey began the year with a runner-up finish at the Saguaro Amateur. He placed fifth at the Amer Ari Invitational and headed east for a top-15 at the Jones Cup. The young Trojans team has been led by the Rancho Cucamonga native Hoey, as well as freshman Sean Crocker.

KK Limbhasut
Limbhasut, a native of Thailand who played high-school golf in Redlands, Calif., picked up his first collegiate win in just his first season, winning the Texas A&M-hosted Aggie Invitational. He came into his freshman year at Berkeley with national recognition from his prestigious Western Junior Amateur win, which he captured by six shots over Nick Hardy of Illinois.

Cody Blick
The leader of the San Jose State Spartans is the junior Blick from Danville, Calif., who recently grabbed a top-10 at The Goodwin, hosted by Stanford. Before that, Blick won the Bandon Dunes Championship in March and the UTEP Invitational in October. His 70.76 scoring average over 10 tournaments last year was the lowest average in team history since records have been kept. Blick’s younger brother Connor plays collegiately for nearby St. Mary’s College.

Jonathan Garrick
Although the junior from Atherton hasn’t registered a win in the 2014-2015 season, Garrick has been remarkably consistent for the Bruins. With his best finish coming at the John Hayt Collegiate, where he tied for fourth, Garrick has three top-20s and has been the best player for UCLA this spring. His life-long dream was to play for the Bruins because of the school’s combination of athletics and academics, stating his greatest thrill was the day he committed to UCLA.

Sean Crocker
This Trojan freshman has been a key addition to the 2014–2015 USC team. Crocker, of Zimbabwe, finished in second place at his first ever collegiate event — the Southwestern Intercollegiate where he finished five back of four-time winner Maverick McNealy. Crocker also has top-five finishes this season at elite events like the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters and The Prestige atPGAWest. Though born in Zimbabwe, Crocker went to high school in California in Westlake Village.

Cody McManus
McManus led his Pepperdine team to their conference-leading 18th West Coast Conference championship, edging the University of the Pacific and star senior Byron Meth by three shots at Saticoy Country Club. The sophomore from Phoenix, Ariz. beat out Meth, the defending champion, by a stroke for the individual title. McManus also has top-15 finishes at The Goodwin and the ASU Thunderbird Invitational.

David Boote
The Stanford junior from England has been the second best player to McNealy on this Cardinal team. His sixth place finish and 10th place finish at The Goodwin and Gifford Collegiate tournaments have been his top performances this year. Though growing up in the suburbs of England, Boote is proud of his Welsh heritage and has represented Wales at the junior and national level.