After three rounds at the NCCAA National Championship tournament, the Bruins golf team finished as the 8th place team in the nation.

"The victory for us this week was in the striving together and the journey we shared as teammates, even if the outcome was not what we had hoped for," Head Coach Denny Scott said. "There a lot of very positive takeaways from this tournament that will help us to pursue again in the future."

Round 1:
The Bruins had a very strong start to the round in the front nine. They tallied a total of seven birdies, three of which belonged to freshman DJ Waller who led the Bruins in this tournament. At the turn of round one, the Bruins had a team score of only +9 and were tied for second place! After holding steady for the next few holes, the struggles began across the whole team. Several big numbers in the final holes moved the Bruins to seventh place with a team total of 317 shots. It was DJ Waller and Dakota Holt leading the Bruins at +6 shortly followed by Brandon Autry at +7, Eli DeVaughn at +10, and Conner Ingle at +15. 

After the round, Coach Scott credited Autry for his leadership despite the struggles. "It was Brandon's leadership, work ethic, and motivation that got this team to Nationals this year," he said. "And the experience for the underclassmen has been so valuable in spite of the scores being higher than we had expected"

Round 2:
In round two, the Bruins improved even though it was nearly the exact opposite of round one. It was the early-round struggles that plagued the Bruins this time, but they were able to show resilience and finish the round very strong. To show the difference, the Bruins shot +17 as a team on the front nine which eight shots worse than round one, but only +7 on the back nine, a 13-shot improvement. All five Bruins golfers stayed so mentally strong to finish that round on a positive note. Waller continued to shine for the Bruins as he shot +2 on the day. 

"If we could have put the front nine score from round one with the back nine score from round two, we would have scored 304 and have been right in the mix with the top few teams," said Coach Scott in retrospect.

Overall, the Bruins improved by five shots in the second round and went into the final round of the national tournament wanting to improve even further.

Round 3:
The goal of improving again during the last round was reached. Though the Bruins were back on the leader board behind the best teams in the nation, they still worked hard and showed why they belonged at the national tournament. Each Bruin played extremely well. Autry was even-par through the front nine followed by Waller and DeVaughn both only at +1. Holt and Ingle followed shortly behind at +5, and it was looking like the Bruins were going to reach the sub-300 goal they set for themselves at the beginning of the season. Momentum, however, peaked too early and did not last through the end of the round. Autry, Holt, and Waller all birdied the 16th hole before struggles on the 17th. The water on the island par-3 got the best of the Bruins and they shot +5 on that hole alone. With that struggle, the Bruins finished the round with a team score of 305 which is still an outstanding score for this young team. 

"The team did an amazing job keeping focus in spite of some minor disappointments and struggles from the first two rounds," said Coach Scott. 

After it was all finished, it was Waller that was the top finisher for the Bruins finishing tied for 12th place, just two shots short of an All-American finish. DeVaughn finished in 29th place with a +19 score which was just one shot ahead of Autry at +20 and tied for 30th. Holt finished two shots behind Autry tied for 32nd at +22, and Ingle rounded out the Bruins efforts at +35 and in 43rd place.

Coach Scott praised Brandon Autry, the lone senior that represented the Bruins this week after thr clubs were put away saying, "Brandon didn't reach some of his goals, but he has led this team for the past two years both on and off the course. He has set the example in testimony and work ethic that will leave a lasting impact for future teams that will return to this championship and make future runs toward winning it."

This team is very capable of competing for a national championship in the future.

Full results for the NCCAA National Championship can be found here.

The Bruins close out their 2025 fall season next week as they compete in the Eagle Invitational hosted by Alice Lloyd College.