Hall Opens Play at NCAA Championship on Friday

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Junior Ryan Hall opens play as an individual at the 2021 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship on Friday. He is the top-seeded player of the six individuals in the field and will tee off in the afternoon wave at 4:42 ET on hole one alongside James Piot of Michigan State and Michael Sakane of Jacksonville.  
 
Hall is the first individual to compete in the national finals under head coach Bill McDonald in his 14 seasons at the helm. He’s the fourth all-time at Carolina to play as individual at NCAA finals (Steve Liebler – 1980, David Seawell – 1994, 1995).
 
“I’m just excited for him. He’s had a heck of a year and he certainly deserves it,” said McDonald. “What he did last week out in New Mexico was amazing – especially in the final round when he really didn’t have his best stuff. Not having the team with us is tough, but at the same time, we’re at the National Championship and we’ve got a job to do.”
 
This year’s championship will be contested at Grayhawk Golf Club in beautiful Scottsdale, Ariz. The Tom Fazio design is a par-70 layout playing 7,289 yards this week. Admission is free for fans for the duration of the tournament (May 28-June 2). Golf Channel will have live coverage from 5-9 p.m. ET for the final round of stroke play on Monday (May 31).
 
“I always try to approach everything the same,” said Hall. “You can only control your game, and you can’t worry about anyone else’s. I just need to go out there and play smart golf. Coach (McDonald) will be out there with me for every shot, so that’ll help a ton.”
 
Hall, a Nicklaus Award finalist and a member of the final Haskins Award Watch List, is seeking to become the first NCAA Champion in program history. Just two Gamecocks have ever finished in the top-10 of the 72-hole championship event in 21 all-time appearances by the team – Mike Holland T-10^th in 1972 and Fred Wadsworth T-9^th in 1984.
 
Live scoring for the event will be available via Golfstat. Fans are also encouraged to follow South Carolina men’s golf on Twitter (@GamecockMGolf) for live updates.
 
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