PALO ALTO, Calif. – Utah Valley University golfer Mason Casper, the first-ever UVU golfer to qualify for NCAA Regionals, will tee off in the first round Thursday at 11:01 a.m. at the Stanford Golf Course with UC Davis' Luke Vivolo and Pepperdine's John McArthur.
Casper, who finished third at the America Sky Conference Golf Championships and was named the conference player of the year, earned an at-large bid as an individual into the field.
The low five teams from the 13-team regional as well as the low scorer not affiliated with one of the five qualifying teams will advance to the NCAA Championships to be held at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., May 29-June 3.
"Mason has as good a shot as anyone to advance," UVU men's golf coach Chris Curran said. "He just needs to stay patient and continue to play the way he has played all season. Rolling the ball will be key."
Live scoring can be found on the Golfstat website.
At the ASC championships earlier this month contested at the par-72, 7,252-yard Lake of Isles Golf Course in North Stonington, Conn., Casper shot rounds of 73-73-75 for a three-day total of 221.
For the year, Casper recorded seven top-10 finishes, including a win at the Battle of the Teton where he shot a 14-under par.
Casper is ranked 49th in the nation in scoring average at 71.83.
Teams from Cal, Stanford, San Diego State, UCF, LSU, UAB, Wichita State, Tennessee, Oregon State, Southeastern Louisiana, San Francisco, San Jose State, and UC Davis will play in the regional.
Along with Casper, Zac Blair (BYU), Justin Shin (New Mexico State), Josh Anderson (Pepperdine), Alex Edfort (Pacific), Justin Keiley (BYU), Allan Jun (Irvine), Johnny MacArthur (Pepperdine), Jarred Bossio (Idaho) and Zachery Fullerton (New Mexico State) will compete as individuals.
Jay Hinton is a sports information assistant at Utah Valley University