SUGAR GROVE, Ill. (UCFKnights.com) - UCF sophomore Kyler Tate will play for the NCAA Division I Men's Golf individual championship Monday. He is 8-under and tied for fourth place after three rounds at Rich Harvest Farms.
Tate carded a 3-under 69 Sunday to follow up on his second-round 66. He got red hot in the middle of his round and carded five straight birdies to rocket up the leaderboard. Ironically, he said a mistake ignited the run of birdies.
"(On 15), I hit a perfect drive and I duff my eight iron and make bogey," Tate said. "The next hole is a pretty tough Par 3 and I stuck it and made birdie. From there, they just seemed to kind of fall. They just all went in. After that, I grinded it out. I made some really good pars coming in."
Tate opened Sunday's play with a birdie on No. 10 before giving that stroke back on the aforementioned 15th hole. Following his streak of five consecutive birdies, he recorded bogeys on Nos. 3 and 5.He was even par through the final four holes of his round to put him in position to compete for the title.
Tate gave a huge fist pump after a great save for par on No. 18 to keep himself at 8-under for the tournament. In the end, it was that clutch putt which also helped his team survive Sunday's cut and move on to the final round of stroke play. He said the fist pump was as much for him as it was knowing the team needed that stroke.
Tate said is excited for the opportunity to play for a national championship Monday.
"It is a great opportunity to win a tournament like this," he said. "But I don't think you can look at the future like that. You have to play one shot, one hole at a time and see where you stack up at the end of the day. If you go out and say you are going to win it, I don't think that really helps your chances."
Scottie Scheffler of Texas holds the lead at 12-under. Vanderbilt's Matthias Schwab and Illinois' Dylan Meyer are both 9-under. Tate and USC's Rico Hoey are tied for fourth at -8. Each of those golfers are ranked in the Top 35 in Golfstat's individual rankings, which rate the top 100 players in the country. Tate came into the tournament unranked.
The final round of stroke play begins Monday morning at 11:30 a.m. CT.