Chico State golfer Josh McCollum has caught fire down the stretch of the 2018–19 season. The senior, who stormed up the leaderboard to finish third at the NCAA Championship South Central/West Super Regional during Saturday’s final round and earn one of eight individual spots in the NCAA Championship Finals, has now finished in the top 10 in five straight tournaments, including four top-threes.
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McCollum shot a 66 Saturday, propelled by seven birdies, the continuance of a recent trend for the Wildcat of the Week. Over his last five tournaments (15 rounds) McCollum has: averaged five birdies per round, boasts a stroke average of 69.87, shot par of better 12 times, and shot in the 60s seven times. The last of those was enough to qualify him for his first trip to the NCAA Championships.
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McCollum entered Saturday’s action in 15th place hoping a huge final round would help the Wildcats reach the NCAA Championship Finals field. It nearly did. Led by McCollum’s 66 (the second-best round of the tournament), Chico State made the day’s biggest move up the leaderboard. In the end, though, they came up four shots shy.
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Meanwhile, McCollum was in position to grab one of the Super Regional’s two individual berths. Among the first players of the day to finish, he waited for hours to see if anyone would wrestle his spot away or force a playoff. ß
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Neither scenario came to fruition.
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McCollum will represent the Wildcats in the NCAA Championship Finals, May 20–22, in Daniels, W. Va., on Cobb Course at The Resort at Glade Springs. He will be attempting to bring home the program’s fourth individual NCAA title, joining J.J. Jakovac (the 2002 and 2004 NCAA Champion) and Kyle Souza (2011).
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