Could Colorado Christian University Go Back-to-Back? 

CCU Looks to Repeat as National Champs

By Jay McKinney 

For the students on Colorado Christian University’s golf team, the possibility that they might not win last year’s 2024 NCAA Division II Men’s Golf National Championship never crossed their minds.

Even when they entered the final stage of the tournament as a modest No. 6 seed, they felt they were talented enough to compete with any of the other teams.

Seniors Adam Duncan and Xavier Bighaus have been on the team since they were freshmen and were a major part of last year’s success. After coming up short in their sophomore year, it was especially gratifying to bounce back and win a championship.

“We were really disappointed the year before and you kind of need disappointment and you need experience,” Duncan says. “And then we came back that next year and had a great spring and the national championship was just unreal. It was awesome.”

Collegiate golf is a year-round sport split between the fall and the spring. Having momentum in spring created a level of confidence throughout the team that proved to be a deciding factor in the tournament.

“I think it’s something that almost doesn’t feel real in a sense,” Bighaus says. “And it’s one thing about our team that I think really kind of separated us. I feel like a lot of us kind of fell in love with the process at a point in that spring semester and winning or losing, I won’t say it didn’t matter, but it wasn’t the first thing on our minds. Rather it was like what’s right in front of us was what was important to us.”

For the national championship – held last May at the Orange County National Golf Club in Winter Garden, Florida – the top 20 teams from around the country played stroke play for 54 holes. When the three rounds of stroke play concluded, an individual champion was crowned, and the top 10 finishers received All-American honors. Then the top eight teams from stroke play reconvened to pick which golfers would face each other in the medal match play bracket that begins the following day.

Unlike traditional match play, where golfers can close opponents out before the round is over, in medal match play, golfers are matched up against each other and play 18 holes. At the end of the round, it’s the total stroke score that determines the winner.

For the finals, CCU’s head coach Mark Hull and the head coach of the University of North Georgia picked which of their players they wanted to face off against one another in a snake draft format. CCU was the lower seed in both round medal-play rounds, but head coach Mark Hull says he was happy with all the matchups with a couple of exceptions. But regardless of the individual matchups, Hull had confidence in his team and the development of Duncan and Bighaus.

“Adam and Xavier, they’ve been the foundation of the team for the last several years and I knew they would be when I recruited them,” Hull says. “And you never know for sure how well people will develop. I knew that they would both be top players in the country by the time that they were seniors. And I think that they’ve both probably done better than I thought they would.”

While Hull and his team were confident about their shot at the title last year, the team is even better this year.

In the Division II national ranking system, CCU currently has three players ranked in the top 10 (first, second and fifth) as well as the 21st and 69th best players in the country. With roughly 1,500 golfers in the system who are ranked, they can change frequently, but Hull believes his dream team of players is the best there will ever be at the Division II level.

They started the season off 5-0 in the tournaments they competed in during the fall semester and are eager for the season to start again this spring. During the dreary days of winter, members of the golf team will frequently be putting in the work at their practice facility located at Hull’s house, near the university campus in Lakewood.

Hull’s set up includes a massive putting surface with built-in breaks of 2.5 to 4 percent and another room with a Foresight GCQuad launch monitor used for dialing in distances. Since the team competes across the country, they can adjust the elevations to get accurate readings for where they will be playing.

Hull gives his players freedom when it comes to practice. The practice facility at his home has its own entrance and is available for the golfers to use from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day.

“There are a lot of different ways to coach and my philosophy has always been, I’m not a micro-manager and I always thought it was dumb when coaches said the whole team is doing this,” Hull says. “Every player is their own person, so I try to recruit guys who I think are going to be motivated to be great, and then I try to put all the pieces in place for them to be successful.”

As they look ahead to their final semester of college golf, one thing that keeps Duncan and Bighaus motivated is their desire to play golf professionally after graduation. Instead of viewing this senior year as a last-dance type of season, Duncan believes this is just another stepping stone to get to where he wants to be as a golfer. Nonetheless, he is grateful for the experience and does not take it for granted.

“We have one chance to experience this,” Duncan says. “We’re never again going to be on a college golf team and we’re never again going to be the best college golf team. You just don’t get that opportunity except for once in a lifetime. We shouldn’t squander it and we should keep playing how we’re playing.”

Championships for Colorado Christian University’s men’s golf team under head coach Mark Hull in either the NCAA or the NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association) competitions: