Special Season Concludes in Fourth Round of NCAA Championship

Ian Maspat leads the way in Carlsbad as Toreros record their best finish at an NCAA Tournament in 15 years

CARLSBAD, Calif. — Heading into the 2026 NCAA Championships this week, San Diego men's golf set its sights on making the cut and finishing better than half of the teams in the 30-team field.

On Sunday evening, USD did just that, advancing to the championship's fourth round of stroke play for just the first time since 2010 and just the third time in program history.

"The boys battled hard," head coach Evan Emerick described as the Toreros saw their name slot in among the top 15 teams.

Cue the next goal: qualifying for match play as one of the tournament's top eight teams after 72 holes of stroke play.

But on Monday, as they took on that challenge and tried to become the first-ever No. 7 seed from an NCAA Regional to advance to the championship's match play bracket (in what would have also been a program-first), the Toreros ultimately did not have the ball roll their way, with tough course conditions and a difficult back-nine performance bringing their incredible 2025-2026 season to a close.

"Overall, the week was unbelievable with this group, making it back-to-back years here, which is something really difficult to do," Emerick said after the round. "I think we're one of the youngest teams here. Last year, we finished dead last (in the national championship), then this year we made it to the fourth round and finished 15th."

On a breezy afternoon on the North Course at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa, Reid Piron had a strong front nine, shooting 2-under 34 with birdies on the par-5 second and the par-4 ninth. However, consecutive bogeys on the par-3 12th and the par-4 13th set him back to even par before shooting 1-over for the round.

Cooper Humphreys scored a birdie on the par-5 sixth to close his front nine with a 1-over 37. Despite a bogey on the par-5 10th, Humphreys ended his round on a high note with a birdie on the par-5 18th.

Ian Maspat, who entered the day tied for seventh and five strokes back of the individual leader, recorded back-to-back birdies on the par-5 10th and the par-4 11th. But things took a turn when a bogey on the par-3 12th led to three double-bogey or worse scores on three of his next four holes.

"I played well for most of the week, except for today," said Maspat, whose six-under 66 in Friday's opening round was the tournament's lowest score that day. "It's not really that I played bad today. There were some bad breaks for sure...it was tougher today. It was higher winds for sure and tough pin locations, and tee boxes moved back."

As a result, San Diego finished the NCAA Championships in 15th place, marking its best placement at the national championship since 2011 when that Toreros squad tied for eighth, but lost in a three-team playoff.

"This group learned so much," Emerick said as the season wound to a close. "Coach (Sam) Foust and I have done an amazing job with these boys and it really is all their hard work. But it comes from these boys digging deep together each day."

Monday also marked the end of Maspat's storied Torero career, which included the individual crown at the West Coast Conference Championship earlier this month and the top spot on Friday's national championship leaderboard.

"There's just a lot of positives that I'm going to take away from this week," Maspat said after signing his final San Diego scorecard.

"I never gave up until the end, and neither did the boys, which I'm proud of."

NOTABLE

2024-2025 and 2025-2026 marks the first time that San Diego has qualified for the NCAA Championship in consecutive seasons since the program appeared in three straight national championships from 2009 to 2011.

FINAL USD RESULTS | 2026 NCAA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP