Bunched leaderboard provides final-round opportunities at 2024 NCAA Championship
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Adam Wallin of the Ohio State Buckeyes takes a two-stroke lead into the final round of the NCAA Men's Golf Division I Championships. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
CARLSBAD, Calif. – Ohio State University’s Adam Wallin took a two-stroke lead through 54 holes of the 2024 NCAA Championship, posting a 3-under 69 and rising to 5-under par for the tournament at Omni La Costa’s North Course.
Stanford University’s Karl Vilips, who carried a five-stroke lead into Sunday’s third round of the individual competition, remains the highest-ranked player on the leaderboard with significant PGA TOUR University Ranking implications ahead of Monday’s final round. Vilips followed rounds of 3-under 69 and 4-under 68 with a 4-over 76, leaving him two strokes behind Wallin.
Baylor University redshirt senior John Keefer, who entered the week ranked No. 29, maintained his position in the top 10 on the leaderboard (T7) with a 1-under 71.
Vilips currently projects to move to No. 6 in the 2024 PGA TOUR University Ranking, while Keefer projects to move to No. 24. Should Wallin go on to win the individual national title, the Swede will still not earn enough points to finish in the top 25 of the 2024 PGA TOUR University Ranking.
Georgia Tech’s Christo Lamprecht, who entered the week ranked No. 2, remained sidelined for the third round due to a back injury. Lamprecht needed to win the stroke-play portion of the NCAA Championship (and have current No. 1 Michael Thorbjornsen finish outside the top 10) to finish No. 1 in the 2024 PGA TOUR University Ranking. Due to the substitution, Lamprecht is no longer eligible to win the individual national title.
Thorbjornsen went out in 4-over 40 and made just one birdie against three bogeys on the back nine. Both Stanford and Thorbjornsen missed the cut for the fourth and final round of stroke play.
PGA TOUR University Ranking projections
| Projected Rank | Current Rank | Player (College) | NCAA Championship |
| 1 | 1 | Michael Thorbjornsen (Stanford University) | MC |
| No. 1 earns PGA TOUR membership | |||
| 2 | 2 | Christo Lamprecht (Georgia Tech) | -- |
| 3 | 3 | Austin Greaser (University of North Carolina) | T78 |
| 4 | 4 | Matthew Riedel (Vanderbilt University) | T40 |
| 5 | 5 | Nicholas Gabrelcik (University of North Florida) | T22 |
| Nos. 2-5 earn fully exempt Korn Ferry Tour membership | |||
| 6 | 14 | Karl Vilips (Stanford University) | T2 |
| 7 | 6 | William Moll (Vanderbilt University) | T60 |
| 8 | 8 | Cole Sherwood (Vanderbilt University) | T27 |
| 9 | 7 | Frederik Kjettrup (Florida State University) | T78 |
| 10 | 9 | Gustav Frimodt (Texas Christian University) | -- |
| Nos. 6-10 earn conditional Korn Ferry Tour status, fully exempt PGA TOUR Americas membership | |||
| 11 | 11 | Mats Ege (East Tennessee State University) | T27 |
| 12 | 10 | Michael Brennan (Wake Forest University) | MC |
| 13 | 13 | Ben Lorenz (University of Oklahoma) | T40 |
| 14 | 12 | Sampson-Yunhe Zheng (University of California-Berkeley) | MC |
| 15 | 15 | Jonas Baumgartner (Oklahoma State University) | MC |
| 16 | 17 | Dylan Menante (University of North Carolina) | T73 |
| 17 | 19 | Ryggs Johnston (Arizona State University) | -- |
| 18 | 20 | Canon Claycomb (University of Alabama) | -- |
| 19 | 16 | Herman Wibe Sekne (Purdue University) | MC |
| 20 | 18 | Maxwell Moldovan (Ohio State University) | T78 |
| 21 | 21 | Petr Hruby (University of Washington) | -- |
| 22 | 22 | Bryce Lewis (University of Tennessee) | T40 |
| 23 | 23 | Santiago De la Fuente del Valle (University of Houston) | -- |
| 24 | 29 | John Keefer (Baylor University) | T7 |
| 25 | 25 | Ben Van Wyk (University of Georgia) | -- |
| Nos. 11-25 earn fully exempt PGA TOUR Americas membership | |||