Lisburn's Shaw bows out of US collegiate golf
Gareth Shaw is destined to bow out from collegiate golf with the coveted status of an All-American after reaching the final round of the 111th Men’s NCAA Division I Championships in West Lafayette, Indiana.
Four Irishmen, all representing East Tennessee State University, teed off on the par-72, 7,450-yard Kampen course at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex after the final five-man team selections saw Dubliner David Rawluk omitted by Charlotte, Ballynahinch’s Gavin Reid miss out for the favourites Southern California and Cathal O’Malley from Mayo sit out from the Alabama at Birmingham quintet.
That left Lisburn’s Shaw, Limerickman Cian McNamara, West Waterford’s Seamus Power and Simon Doherty of Belfast, with Cornwall’s Rhys Enoch rounding out the Anglo-Irish team at East Tennessee State.
ETSU, however, fell victim to new championship rules which only allowed the top 15 teams to contest the final round of the 72-hole tournament.
While the Buccaneers team missed out by 10 strokes, Shaw did progress to the final round as one of the top six individuals whose teams did not make the cut.
Shaw finished the third round at eight-over 224 (74, 73, 77), tied for 20th and he compiled a disappointing 12-over 83 in the final round to slip down the individual leaderboard to a tie for 43rd in the national championships as UCLA captured the team national championship by a stroke over Stanford, and UCLA’s Kevin Chappell took the individual medalist honors by three strokes.
Shaw, playing his final tournament as a student, was philosophical about the experience.
“I would have liked to have played along with the team, but once I realised that wasn’t going to happen I made it a goal to get to the finals as an individual,” Shaw said.
“It just didn’t happen for me. It was a tough round on a tough course. “
