SMU golfers Will Sides and Ben Steinmann will compete as individuals at the NCAA Bryan Regional with championship spots on the line.
SMU men’s golf will have two individual shots at the NCAA Championship this week, and both come with plenty of intrigue.
Will Sides and Ben Steinmann are set to compete at the NCAA Bryan Regional from May 18-20 at Traditions Golf Club in Bryan, Texas. To advance, one of the Mustangs must finish as the top individual player not on a qualifying team.
Sides enters as the headliner after one of the best seasons in SMU history. Ranked No. 7 nationally by Scoreboard powered by Clipp’d, Sides has won three tournaments this season, just one shy of the program record.
He opened the year with a victory at the Stephens Cup, then added spring wins at the Pauma Valley Invite and the Lewis Chitengwa Memorial.
His consistency has been just as impressive as the wins. Sides owns an SMU-record 69.56 scoring average, along with a school-record 26 rounds of par or better and 18 rounds in the 60s. He also posted six top-five finishes, including at the ACC Championship.
Sides is also closing in on more program history. His career scoring average of 71.09 is only 0.05 strokes off Noah Goodwin’s SMU record.
Steinmann gives the Mustangs another real contender. The Swiss freshman is ranked No. 147 by Scoreboard and has already built one of the strongest debut seasons SMU has seen.
He won the Desimone Invitational, highlighted by a second-round 65, and carries a 71.91 scoring average, the second-best freshman mark in school history.
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He also added a top-five finish at the Lewis Chitengwa Memorial, showing he can handle high-level fields.
SMU won’t have a team in the regional, but Sides and Steinmann give the Mustangs two legitimate paths to the NCAA Championship. Now it comes down to three rounds in Bryan.
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