The Boilermakers fired a 54-hole total of 9-over par 873 (288-295-290) to move from three shots outside the cutline after two rounds to safely above the cutline, finishing fourth to reach the National Championships for the second straight season.
Purdue entered the final day in sixth place, seven shots behind third-place New Mexico State, five shots behind UCLA, three shots behind Georgia Tech and one ahead of SMU. Purdue quickly passed New Mexico State midway through the front nine and then moved past Georgia Tech late in the round to finish fourth, one shot ahead of the Yellow Jackets and six shots clear of sixth-place SMU.
Auburn, the No. 1-ranked team in the country, finished first at 32-under par on its home course and was followed by Texas A&M (-5) and UCLA (+6) in third place.
"We're obviously really excited to make it back to Nationals after making it last year and not playing as well as we had hoped. And I think the guys saw it as redemption from a poor outing at the Big Ten Championships. The guys knew they were better than they showed in Baltimore and they got back together with the goal of advancing and played some great golf to make it through," said head coach Andrew Sapp, who leads his third team to the National Championships after leading both Michigan and North Carolina to college golf's premier event.
The Boilermakers again posted a consistent round, with all four counting scores between 72 and 74. Purdue recorded the third-best round of the day and was one of just three schools to have three players shoot even-par or better in the final round.
"We met last night and we knew our focus would be fairways and greens as simple as it sounds. Pars were going to be really good today with the pressure and getting the putter in your hand as soon as possible was going to enable us to shoot a good score," Sapp added. "We got off to a great start today and although it got harder near the end, we made some really clutch pars to pass Georgia Tech and hold off SMU."
A freshman and senior paced the Boilermakers all weekend, highlighted by 15th-place finishes by rookie Supapon Amornchaichan and the veteran Nels Surtani.
Amornchaichan, who entered the Regionals with just two top-15 showings this season, finished tied for 15th at 1-over par 217 (72-73-72). He played all 54 holes without a double-bogey or worse and played the entire third and final round at even-par or better.
His 15th-place finish is the highest at a Regional for a Purdue freshman since Austin Eoff finished T-11th in the 2014 Regional at Rich Harvest Farms outside Chicago.
"It was great to see Supapon step up. He's never been in this situation and he doesn't know what pressure there is. He just went out there and played good golf. He's a very talented player and it was a great tournament for him," Sapp said.
Meanwhile, Surtani, who was coming off a tough Big Ten Tournament, also placed tied for 15th after rounds of 72-71-74. Surtani was even-par through 12 holes, but bogeyed his 13th and 15th holes to move out of the top 10.
Nonetheless, Surtani becomes the fourth Boilermaker in school history to have two top-15 finishes at Regionals (Lee Williamson, Austin Eoff, Fernando Barco), after finishing T-10th a year ago.
"Nels bounced back after a tough Big Ten Championships and he knows what Regionals is about. He's a senior playing down the stretch and he wanted to end on a high note. We're really proud of the way he played this week," Sapp added.
Senior Kent Hsiao recorded his fifth top-20 of the season with a T-20 finish at 3-over par 219 (73-74-72). Hsiao was 3-under par through 10 holes, but suffered bogeys on three of the next eight holes to fall to even par.
It marked the third straight strong performance in NCAA action for Hsiao, finishing tied for 18th at Regionals last year, tied for 34th through three rounds at last year's NCAA Championships and then the 20th-place showing this year.
Jenson Forrester had a strong round today with 16 pars, one birdie and one bogey for an even-par round of 72 to finish tied for 31st at 6-over par 222 (71-79-72).
Sam Easterbrook finished tied for 52nd at 11-over par 227 (73-77-77).
Purdue will be making its 31st National Championships appearance, the third most by a "Northern" school (above 40 degree latitude). Purdue has made five National Championship appearances since 2014, the second most in the Big Ten Conference.
Action gets underway May 23, at the Omni LaCosta Resort in Carlsbad, California.