SUGAR GROVE, Ill. (UCFKnights.com) - The UCF men's golf team will play at least one more day. The Knights made the cut and will move on to the final day of stroke play at the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship Sunday.
Head coach Bryce Wallor was understandably pleased to see his team advance.
"I'm really excited for our guys," Wallor said. "Looking at where we've been as a program and the progress we're starting to make, this is a fairly young team. I'm just excited for what we can continue to do."
The 30-team field was winnowed to 15 after three rounds. UCF was squarely on the bubble for most of the day. The Knights got out of the gate slowly Sunday, but righted the ship enough to put up a three-round tally of 7-over par. Arizona State and Alabama made late charges, but finished 8- and 9-over, respectively.
"Today, we kind of stumbled and really got off to a slow start," Wallor said of his team, which teed off on the back nine Sunday. "In the middle of our round, everybody just kind of picked it up. Juuso (Kahlos) ripped off three birdies in a row. Kyler (Tate) birdied his way from 16 through 2. Manuel (Elvira) made eagle on 18. So we really kind of picked ourselves up in the middle of the round and got ourselves back in it."
Tate led the way for the Knights. He is 8-under for the tournament and carded a 69 (-3) Sunday. He is just four strokes off the lead and will have an opportunity at the individual national championship Monday.
Kahlos was 5-over through his first seven holes. But he rebounded to finish 2-over Sunday. Elvira and Bobby Bai were both 3-over Sunday to round out the Knights' four scores. Ryan Stovash was also in the lineup and tallied an 11-over 83 Sunday.
The top eight teams after Monday's round will move on to the knockout portion of the championship. UCF will have some work to do to make it to match play. The Knights are currently 16 strokes out of eighth place.
Monday's final round of stroke play is set to begin at 11:30 a.m. CT.