University of Virginia golfer Ben James found himself on the wrong end of a pace of play ruling over the weekend that would end up costly in his national championship pursuit. The sophomore finished one stroke back on the leaderboard after being penalized alongside a number of others in the field.
James pled his case to officials, but to no avail.
It seemed the NCAA’s mission to eliminate slow play during the weekend’s championship event as five golfers were dinged a stroke by officials in the first round, alone.
Virginia’s Ben James and Texas Tech’s Baard Skogen also received one-stroke penalties for slow play. NCAA isn’t kidding around with pace of play #NCAAGolf
— Cameron Jourdan (@Cam_Jourdan)
In James’s case, that penalty had a major impact.
He and another player in his group received that punishment during Friday’s round at the 17th hole. It apparently came after receiving a warning a few holes prior.
James said that he and one of his playing partners, Baard Skogen of Texas Tech, were assessed one-stroke penalties for slow play. James said each received their penalty on the par-4 17th hole.
James said the warning for slow play came on the 14th hole—in the aftermath of his trio scoring five over par at the par-4 13th. Both James, who hit his drive out of bounds, and Skogen suffered double bogeys and Lorenz a bogey.
Ben James tried his best change the ruling, but the NCAA didn’t listen.
“A lot of unfortunate events,” James said. “We weren’t trying to slow up play. We were just trying to play our best golf.”
When Sunday’s final round rolled around, the Virginia star was in contention for the crown. A missed 15-foot birdie putt on his final hole landed him in a six-way tie for second place, just one stroke behind tournament winner Hiroshi Tai of Georgia Tech.
With the win, Tai qualified for the 2025 Masters.
That one stroke penalty proved, oh, so costly. While it wouldn’t have guaranteed a victory, it would’ve at least set up a playoff battle for rights to the No. 1 spot.
James reportedly pled his case for a half an hour after the fact, but those cries fell upon deaf ears.
“It’s the rules, but it sucks. It stings. There’s such a fine line in golf,” he said after the tournament ended. “I knew the result wasn’t going to change, but I wanted to get everything out. And I think that was important… It made me feel better giving my two cents.”
It was one of a number of unfortunate events to take place over the weekend, one of which included Auburn’s Jackson Koivun losing his NCAA championship opportunity due to one of the world’s unluckiest bounces.
While James missed out on that individual title shot, he will have the chance to represent his team in match play this week.
The post NCAA Golfer’s Pleas Fall On Deaf Ears As Pace Of Play Penalty Robs Him Of National Title Shot, Masters Appearance appeared first on BroBible.