Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Commmunications
Louisiana Tech’s Niilo Maki-Petaja was selected for the regional round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships as an at-large individual as announced on the NCAA Selection Show on Wednesday.
Maki-Petaja, who is currently ranked No. 209 in the country, will make the short trip south to Baton Rouge where he will compete among 14 teams and five individuals at the University Club hosted by LSU on May 13-15. He was selected as the No. 3 seed among the individuals.
This marks the third straight season that LA Tech has had a Bulldog receive a bid to compete at the NCAA Regionals (fourth overall).
“I am excited for Niilo,” said head coach Matt Terry. “It is nice to see his hard work and results pay off with an individual bid to regionals. I know he wished we would have gotten it done to go as a team but getting an at-large as an individual shows that he had a solid year.”
Maki-Petaja made the most of his freshman season, registering a team-high stroke average of 72.15 with 19 rounds at or under par. He recorded six top-20 finishes with four of those coming in the top five, all of which came during the spring portion of the schedule.
The native of Finland tied for fourth at the Sea Best Invitational and Louisiana Classics before registering his first collegiate win at the Aggie Invitational when he sank a 35-foot putt on the final hole to take the title. Most recently, he placed third as an individual at the Conference USA Championship in Texarkana, Arkansas.
Teams (in order of seeding)
Auburn
Virginia
Texas Tech
Oregon
Duke
Ohio State
LSU
Louisville
Houston
South Carolina
Lipscomb
Yale
Loyola Maryland
Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Individuals (in order of seeding)
Alex Goff, Kentucky
Max Sturdza, Florida Atlantic
Niilo Maki-Petaja, Louisiana Tech
Hugo Thyr, South Alabama
Archie Smith, Little Rock
