Southbury’s VanDerLaan wins Div. II national title

Former Pomperaug High School golfer Michael VanDerLaan won the NCAA Division II individual national title, finishing with a 72-hole score of

9-under-par 207 at The Resort at Glade Springs.

The Florida Southern senior wrapped up the competition with a 6-under score of 66 on Wednesday to finish two shots ahead of Barry’s Jorge Garcia. Barry still had nine holes to play when VanDerLaan was signing his card. Barry pulled within two shots but could get no closer as VanDerLaan becomes the

10th individual national champion in Florida Southern’s history, joining a list including his older brother John, the 2018 champion, and Oxford’s Steve Sokol, who won in

2001. VanDerLaan helped Florida Southern become one of eight teams to advance to the medal play portion of the tournament by finishing fourth in the team stroke play competition behind Barry, Lynn and West Florida. VanDerLaan was a member of Florida Southern’s 2017 national championship team.

Cheshire’s Chris Simione had his best round of the tournament on Wednesday with a score of 75 for Bentley, which finished 17th and did not advance to medal play.