FSC's Michael VanDerLaan Wins NCAA Men's Golf Individual Title
10th Moccasin, 14th SSC athlete to be crowned champion
By: Tim Carpenter | Florida Southern College Athletic Communications
DANIELS, W. Va. - Florida Southern's Michael VanDerLaan won the stroke play portion of the tournament to claim the individual national title. The senior from Southbury, Connecticut became the 10th national medalist in program history by shooting a final-round 66, putting him at -9 for the tournament.
VanDerLaan was never far from the top throughout the championship tournament but still had to move up five spots on the final day to get the win. He also had to wait quite some time after finishing his round to officially pick up the trophy. With the Moccasins teeing off at noon, VanDerLaan was in the clubhouse long before some of the other contenders, which included national player-of-the-year candidate Jorge Garcia. A senior from Barry University, Garcia still had nine holes to play when VanDerLaan was signing off on his round, and still within striking distance. He narrowed the gap to two strokes with birdies on 11 and 12, but got no closer.
The 10 individual championships are the most for any Division II team, and the VanDerLaan family now has two of them. Mike VanDerLaan's older brother John won last year's national title, with Garcia also finishing second in that tournament. Only four Division II schools have won more individual men's golf championships than the VanDerLaan brothers, with Florida Southern among them.
Before VanDerLaan completed his round, he already had a target score ahead of him. Individual qualifier Chase Carlson of Colorado Christian had been among the early finishers and closed with a 210 (-6). VanDerLaan still had three holes to play and was at -8 with no other golfer still on the course better than -5. Even then, the lead was far from comfortable with Garcia one of them.
Starting the day tied for sixth at -3, VanDerLaan was three strokes off the pace being set by Lincoln Memorial's Sam Broadhurst. The Moccasins and Railsplitters were playing together in the final round, but Broadhurst was in the group behind VanDerLaan with Christian Anderson, who was tied with Garcia for fourth place. With the teams starting on the back nine, VanDerLaan started red hot with three straight birdies on 10, 11, and 12. Two more birdies on 15 and 18 allowed him to turn at -5 and catch Broadhurst for the top spot in the standings.
A little behind VanDerLaan on the course, Broadhurst was still holding his own and at -1 for the day through seven holes, but he ran into trouble after that. After a bogey on the par-3 No. 17, Broadhurst doubled the par-5 No. 18, and had another bogey on No. 1. Those three consecutive holes cost him five shots as VanDerLaan had two pars and a birdie on the same three.
VanDerLaan picked up another stroke when he birdied No. 2, putting him at -6 in the round and -9 in the tournament. Now two shots ahead of Carlson, who was already done for the day, VanDerLaan maintained that score over the final six holes. He did bogey 4 and 6, but each time followed it with a birdie, keeping him exactly where he needed to be. He finished with eight birdies in the round, and his 66 puts him on a very short list of Moccasin golfers to shoot six-under or better in any round at the national finals.
Only Jude Eustaquio (-7 in the opening round in 2008), John Coultas (-6 in the final round last year), and John VanDerLaan (a -6 in round one, and a -7 in round three last year) have equaled or bettered VanDerLaan's score from Wednesday.
Florida Southern's list of individual national champions in men's golf now includes Tom Gleeton (1979), Tom Patri (1981), Lee Janzen (1985), Matt Saglio (1999), Jeff Klauk (2000), Steve Sokol (2001), Tim Crouch (2013 and '14), John VanDerLaan (2018), and Michael VanDerLaan (2019). The VanDerLaans are believed to be the first set of brothers to ever win individual national men's golf championships in NCAA history. It was also the first career college win for Mike VanDerLaan.
The team championship, of course, is still up for grabs and the Moccasins have their sights set on that too. Florida Southern was one of the eight teams to advance to the medal play portion of the tournament and by finishing fourth in stroke play, the Mocs earned the No. 4 seed. They began the day tied for eighth but jumped four spots after shooting 284 (-4) as a team. The only team with a better round than Florida Southern on Wednesday was top-ranked Barry, which was eight-under to secure the No. 1 seed. The Buccaneers were at -18 for the tournament, putting them seven shots ahead of defending national champion Lynn and 16 ahead of third-place West Florida.
Courtesy of Florida Southern Athletic Communications