Skip to main content
Tennessee
Join Now

Tennessee Golf caps historic run in playoff defeat at NCAA Championship

On3 imageby: Austin Price06/02/26AustinPriceless

Three shots out to begin the day, Tennessee’s men’s golf team rallied to get into a 4 for 2 playoff in Carlsbad, California at the NCAA Championships. A five man playoff ended with Tennessee one shot short of qualifying for match play.

“These guys fought and fought and that’s really all I can ask of them,” head coach Brennan Webb said. “I loved coaching them and loved how much they cared. I wish they would have gotten to go out competing in the match play portion but I still think this is the best ncaa championship performance in program history.”

At different times during the final round, Tennessee was in and then they were out. Then they were waiting. They shot 4-under for the 4th round of stroke play and tied with Stanford, UCLA and North Carolina.

“It was tense and exciting,” Webb said. “I think we all felt like it was our turn and destiny was on our side but that’s sports and particularly golf. The margins are as slim as they get.”

Tennessee had four pars with senior Josh Hill the lone exception. He doubled the par 4 15th after topping his tee shot into the high grass and taking a penalty.

“I feel for Josh but reminded him we wouldn’t even be here in La Costa if not for his performance at Regionals,” Webb said.

Senior Lance Simpson finished tied for 8th and definitely left his mark on Rocky Top.

“Lance will leave here as one of the best players in program history,” Webb said. “What he has meant to this program is immeasurable. The fact he is a Knoxville native makes it that much more meaningful.”

Hill and Simpson will move on to play professionally, but Tennessee will have three of their five back and a talented group of newcomers coming in.

“We just continue to keep getting better every day,” Webb said. “Obviously recruiting is at very high level right now and we need to keep building off of that and keep pushing ourselves to be the best.”

Volquest continues to be your home for Vol golf coverage. The team will now get ready for individual tournament season this summer.