Saint Leo University can point to plenty of good play this week at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club as a big reason why the Lions won their first Men’s NCAA Division II national golf title on Saturday. But it should not be lost that the foundation for the championship was laid in a phone call from one French Canadian to another last year.
When Hugo Bernard couldn’t play golf for the University of Tennessee because of NCAA issues, it was fellow Quebec amateur Joey Savoie — a golfer at Saint Leo (Fla.) — who placed a recruiting call to his friend that ended up paying handsome dividends.
As Bernard recalls, “(He said) for DII we’ve got a pretty good program, so if you come maybe we’ve got a shot at nationals.”
Truer words were never spoken as Bernard not only won the DII individual national title as a freshman this week, but he helped Saint Leo claim the team championship — with the help of teammates Savoie and Ryan Gendron (both juniors), Liam Ainsworth (a senior) and Griffin Clark (a sophomore). The top-seeded Lions defeated Chico State (Calif.) in Saturday’s title match, 3-2.
“You know what? It turned out good,” said Savoie (below). “Me and Hugo have played a lot of junior golf and amateur golf together. He’s a good rival, an amazing player obviously. When it didn’t turn out for Tennessee, I gave him a call. ‘Why don’t you come to Saint Leo? If you’re not eligible for DI, why don’t you come play for us? We can have the French Connection and do something good.’ It turned out great, especially this week. He came out strong.”
Added Bernard: “We predicted (the national title) at the beginning of the year. It’s a good feeling because we are two good friends. We’re both pretty happy about it.”
After winning the individual national title on Thursday, Bernard went 2-0-1 in his three medal-match play performances on Friday and Saturday. In Saturday’s final, Bernard was three strokes down to Chico State’s Alistair Docherty after two holes and things were all square through nine. But on the first three holes of the back nine, Bernard picked up five strokes on Docherty, who hit his approach left into the hazard on 10 and pulled his tee shot out of bounds on 11 — resulting in two straight double bogeys — then Bernhard birdied 12 while Docherty made a three-put par.
When Docherty’s tee shot went OB on 11, he was upset with Bernard.
“I don’t know,” Bernard said when asked about the reason. “I just started walking after he hit it out of bounds. Maybe he was a little pissed about it.”
Bernard (left) ended up beating Docherty by seven strokes (69-76). Docherty, who had won both his quarterfinal and semifinal matches, shot a 6-over-par 42 on the back nine of the final.
Chico State, which claimed seven team titles this year including one at GVR in September, actually won two of the first three matches on Saturday, with Lee Gearhart completing a 3-0 record in medal-match play and Justin Wiles also prevailing. But seven-stroke victories by both Gendron and Bernard made Saint Leo a virtual lock for the title as the Lions were in very good position had things gone to the tiebreaker of team aggregate. But it didn’t come to that as Clark defeated Chico’s Kelley Sullivan in the fifth and final match.
“It’s amazing,” said Savoie, who went 2-1 in medal-match play despite a loss on Saturday. “We battled so hard this week. We established a record (for 54 holes of stroke play in the DII Finals, at 26 under par). In match play, you never know what will happen if you’re the first seed. We got our biggest rival Lynn (in the semifinals, prevailing by one stroke in a tiebreaker), which was almost a preview for today. It feels great to get it done. It was the goal the whole year.”
The entire match play bracket went according to form, with the higher-seeded team winning all seven matches.
Saturday’s victory was just Saint Leo’s third team win in 12 tournaments this season. Only Bernard and Ainsworth have captured individual titles this season for the Lions.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Saint Leo coach Chris Greenwood said of the run to the title. “To be the first in school history is unbelievable.”
Championship Match Results
Saint Leo 3, Chico State 2
Justin Wiles, CS, def. Liam Ainsworth, 76-77
Ryan Gendron, SL, def. Matt Hutchins, 70-77
Lee Gearhart, CS, def. Joey Savoie, 72-75
Hugo Bernard, SL, def. Alistair Docherty 69-76
Griffin Clark, SL, def. Kelley Sullivan, 71-74
To read about Bernard claiming the NCAA DII individual title on Thursday, CLICK HERE.
The men’s tourney — and the women’s DII finals at CommonGround Golf Course — were part of the NCAA Division II National Championships Festival in which titles in six sports (M&W golf, M&W tennis, softball and women’s lacrosse) were decided.
For results from the men’s tournament at GVR, CLICK HERE.
