McCulla caps golf career at Illinois State with solid showing at NCAA regional

URBANA, Ill. — A tough stretch of holes to close the NCAA men’s golf regional didn’t diminish all Alex McCulla accomplished.

The Quincy Notre Dame graduate and Illinois State University senior placed in the top 35 at the University of Illinois’ Atkins Golf Club, posting a 3-over 74 in Wednesday’s final round and finishing tied for 34th at 3-over 216 in the 80-player field.

Illinois State finished 10th in the 13-team field, which included three teams ranked in the top 15 nationally. No. 14 Illinois and No. 2 Oklahoma State finished tied for the team title at 15-under 837. The top five teams advance to the NCAA finals, which take place May 23-28 at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.

McCulla, the reigning two-time Quincy city golf champion, opened the week by shooting a 2-over 69, which tied for the second lowest NCAA tournament score in program history. He followed it with a 2-over 73 in the second round and started Wednesday’s round with birdies on three of his first seven holes. He made the turn at 1-under 35 before making four bogeys on the back nine.

McCulla played in three NCAA regionals during his four-year career, had five top-five finishes and 10 top-10 finishes, and amassed a 73.2 stroke average over 135 career rounds.