Camden’s Cole Anderson and Topsham’s Caleb Manuel will play in the NCAA regional golf tournament, which begins Monday.
Anderson and Seminoles of Florida, who have qualified for the regional team for the 16th consecutive year, finished third in the Atlantic Coast Conference championships, and will play in the regional at the PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
Manuel, who is competing for the University of Connecticut, qualifies as Provincial as an individual. He will play at Yale Golf Course in New Haven, Connecticut.
The sophomore earned his Big East Championship Medals of Honor with Seton Hall graduate student Gregor Tait. Tate conceded the playoff slot for Manuel because Seton Hall had already snatched a berth in the area by winning the Big East Tag Team Championship.
Seton Hall will be one of 14 teams in the Yale Regional and Manuel will be one of five. The top five teams and the low individual who is not in one of these teams will qualify for the NCAA Championships at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, beginning May 27.
There will also be 14 teams and five individuals at the Regional Palm Beach Gardens.
Three regional regions will have 14 teams and five individuals and three others will have 13 teams and 10 individuals.
Anderson, the 2019 Maine Amateur and three-time Maine Class A champ from Camden Hills High School, said he’s confident of entering the regional.
He is classified as a sophomore Red-shirt student and will have two years of eligibility remaining after this season.
Anderson played an important role in helping the Seminoles earn a spot in the area.
Filling in for Dan Bradbury, the No. 2 golfer in Seminole who has fallen ill, Anderson fired a one-player pair under the 71s to help Florida State reach the semi-finals of play against Georgia Tech.
He earned half a point in a game played against Ross Stillman of the Yellow Jackets, conference golfer for the month of February.
Georgia Tech won the match 3.5-1.5.
“If I dropped a few more deposits, it would have been a really tough week. It was a great match in the game. We were four or five under 17 holes,” Anderson said.
Anderson tied for third at the All-American Collegiate Invitational earlier this season and also tied for 17th at the Valspar Collegiate Invitational.
“You’ve gotten progressively better every year. It’s very difficult because once you get to a certain point your improvement is very marginal. You’re not going to go down from 15 handicaps to five in one year. Hope to get a better half-shot here and there,” Anderson said.
Anderson said he speaks to Manuel frequently and is glad he is also in the area.
“He’s having a great year. He does what Caleb does, and he doesn’t make a lot of mistakes,” Anderson said.
Manuel, seeded third among the five, has been UConn’s top scorer in the past two years and has averaged 71.7 per round which is the best in known program history.
This season, Manuel has won two championships and scored eight times in the top ten with 19 rounds or better and has 14 sub-70s.