Ball State University Athletics
Johnny Watts Set for NCAA Noblesville Regional
May 12, 2015 | Men's Golf
Noblesville Regional Central | Live Scoring |
Watts NCAA Fact Sheet
Ball State freshman Johnny Watts will compete alongside some of the nation's best this week at the NCAA Men's Golf Noblesville Regional. Ball State is the host institution for the event at The Sagamore Club in Noblesville.
While the Cardinals are not competing as a team, Watts earned an individual spot by virtue of winning the Mid-American Conference Championships.
Noblesville is one of six Regional sites across the country and features Illinois, which enters the postseason ranked No.1 in the Golfweek rankings and No. 4 by Golfstat. Two-time defending national champion Alabama is also in the field.
The teams and individuals will see the Jack Nicklaus-designed Sagamore Club for the first time Wednesday with practice rounds. The first round gets underway Thursday at 8 a.m., and the 54-hole event will continue Friday and Saturday.
Watts is slated for a 9:50 a.m. starting time off the first tee in Thursday's opening round. Hole-by-hole live scoring will be available throughout the event at golfstat.com.
The Fishers, Ind., product will have a level of comfort playing close to home. A strong performance could earn him a spot in the NCAA Championships. The top five teams from the Regional will advance, along with the top individual not associated with one of those teams. The Championships will be played May 29-June 3 at The Concession Club in Bradenton, Fla.
Watts became the first freshman since 2005 to win the MAC Championships and the first Ball State freshman ever to accomplish the feat when he won by one stroke earlier this month at Sand Ridge in Chardon, Ohio. He became the first non-Kent State golfer to claim the league title since 2008.
This season marks the fourth in the past five the Cardinals have been represented in the NCAA Regionals. Eric Steger (2011) and Tyler Merkel (2012) also competed as individuals, while Ball State earned a spot as a team in 2013. That team went on to advance to the NCAA Championships.
Noblesville Regional Teams (14) – listed in order of seed
(1) Illinois, (2) Oregon, (3) UCLA, (4) Alabama, (5) SMU, (6) UNLV, (7) Virginia Tech, (8) Georgia Southern, (9) Colorado, (10) New Mexico State, (11) East Carolina, (12) Marquette, (13) Alabama State, (14) Pennsylvania
Noblesville Regional Individuals (5) – listed in order of seed
(1) Chris Selfridge (Toledo), (2) Jose Montano (Xavier), (3) Evan Bowser (Oakland), (4) Jose Pablo Segurola (IUPUI), (5) Johnny Watts (Ball State)
Other Regional Sites
UNC Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill, N.C. (host North Carolina), The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (host San Diego), The Rawls Course in Lubbock, Texas (host Texas Tech), Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Wash. (host Washington) and The Course at Yale in New Haven, Conn. (host Yale)
