Mocs Men’s Golf Hosts NCAA East Regional
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- For the second straight year, Chattanooga has a berth in the NCAA East Regional. The 13th-ranked Mocs will attempt to earn its first appearance in the finals May 15-17 at Council Fire Golf Club in Chattanooga.
UTC has won three tournaments in a row and four of its last six. In its other two starts, Chattanooga recorded second and third-place finishes. For the season, the Mocs have a school-record five titles and a national-best 141 wins.
The regional field features 27 teams and six individuals with the top 10 teams moving on to the finals at Purdue, May 28-31. Out of the 27 teams in the East, 18 are ranked in the top 50 in the country.
WHO: Jonathan Hodge/Mark Guhne. Hodge repeated as Southern Conference Player of the Year. Guhne is in his third season at the helm of the Mocs program. All three years his peers have named him SoCon Coach of the Year.
WHAT: NCAA East Regional
WHEN: Thur-Sat., May 15-17 (18 holes per day ? 54 holes total)
WHERE: Council Fire Golf Club; Chattanooga, Tenn. (Par 71/6,961 yards)
HOW: The Mocs won a school record five tournaments in 2007-08 including the SoCon Championship earning the league’s automatic bid.
CHATTANOOGA PRE-TOURNAMENT NOTES
CHATTANOOGA STATISTICS
QUOTABLE: “What a great opportunity lies before us,” said Head Coach Mark Guhne. “This is a great field so it will be a huge test for our team. Last year I think we were kind of just happy to be there, now we have a better understanding of the task before us. One thing is certain, we need to come out ready to play because there is no coasting along to get to nationals.”
TOURNAMENT FIELD (Golfweek/Sagarin Ratings Index): No. 1 Georgia (2), No. 2 Charlotte (9), No. 3 South Carolina (12), No. 4 Duke (14), No. 5 CHATTANOOGA (13), No. 6 Auburn (16), No. 7 East Tennessee State (21), No. 8 Michigan State (20), No. 9 Ole Miss (31), No. 10 UAB (28), No. 11 Virginia Tech (34), No. 12 North Carolina State (32), No. 13 Mississippi State (38), No. 14 Georgia State (47), No. 15 North Florida (45), No. 16 UC-Irvine (49), No. 17 Augusta State (50), No. 18 SMU (40), No. 19 Middle Tennessee (55), No. 20 Coastal Carolina (62), No. 21 Memphis (60), No. 22 Virginia (65), No. 23 Western Carolina (71), No. 24 Colorado State (82), No. 25 New Mexico State (84), No. 26 Western Illinois (168), No. 27 Jackson State (259).
TOP 25 (GOLFSTAT) IN EAST REGIONAL FIELD: (1) Georgia, (5) Charlotte, (7) South Carolina, (12) Duke, (15) CHATTANOOGA, (16) Auburn, (21) East Tennessee State, (24) Michigan State.
INDIVIDUALS: Keegan Bradley, St John’s; Jose Toledo, New Orleans; Johnny Caldwell, South Alabama; Michael McGrady, Troy; Jon Curran, Vandy; Grant Leaver, Austin Peay.
Western Carolina Men’s Golf Prepares for Historic Trip to NCAA East Regional at Council Fire Golf Club in Chattanooga
Cullowhee, N.C. ? Gathered around a speaker phone in the Jordan-Phillips Field House, the Western Carolina men’s golf team anxiously awaited its fate. After playing arguably the toughest schedule in school history, the Catamounts were rewarded with the school’s first-ever, at-large bid to the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship field.
Western Carolina, the No. 23 seed in the East Regional, opens its quest for the national championship with a practice round on Wednesday afternoon, starting on the 10th tee at 12:20 pm. The Catamounts tee it up in the first round at 7:47 am on Thursday morning, paired with No. 22 Virginia and No. 24 Colorado State.
WCU will take to the course on the back nine at 12:59 with the same pairings on Friday, with Saturday’s final round tee times determined by team placement entering the final 18 holes.
The top 10 finishers from the regional move on to NCAA Championship which will be held may 28-31 at Purdue University’s Birk Boilermaker Golf Complex on the Kampen Course. Top two individual finishers not on teams advancing move on as well.
“From the time we heard our named called back on May 5 on the selection teleconference, through preparing to head to Chattanooga, it has been an awesome experience,” said WCU head coach and alum, Gorham Bradley. “I am excited for our players, and also for our University. Our players believe that they can compete against the best teams in the country, and now they have that opportunity.”
He added, “This event is a tremendous opportunity for Western Carolina men’s golf to compete at the national level. Those who have been involved with this program should take great pride in this accomplishment. But rest assured our current players, myself included, believe we can make it out of the regional and into the NCAA championships. It will take a total team effort from the practice rounds all the way through the final putt.”
The NCAA East Regional field features 27 teams ? including the top overall seed in the tournament, Georgia ? as well as Southern Conference-foe, and event host, Chattanooga, and six individuals. Eight of the teams finished the regular season ranked in Golfstat’s top 25 rankings.
Earlier this year, Western finished ahead of No. 24 Colorado State at the Callaway Golf Invitational in California, and also edged No. 11 Virginia Tech at the Furman Intercollegiate. In addition, the Catamounts were only four strokes in arrears of top-seed Georgia at the Mizuno Southbridge Intercollegiate
WCU senior Matt Cook will be making his third-straight appearance in the NCAA post-season. The individual medalist at last month's SoCon men's golf championship, Cook earned two-consecutive, at-large bids each of the past two seasons. The Murphy, N.C., native posted a school-best, 20th-place finish at last year's East Regional with a three-round score of 223.
According to the latest Golfstat Cup rankings, Cook enters the regional ranked 78th in the nation and is the only Catamount to grace the top 250 golfers. The Murphy, N.C., native was fourth in the SoCon this season with a stroke average of 72.46, followed by junior Andres Cuenca in 12th. The two ? which lead the school’s career scoring average chart ? have the lowest scoring average on the squad at 72.26 and 73.52, respectively, which rank third and sixth in the WCU record books for single-season averages.
Freshman Caleb Marsh is third on the team with a scoring average of 74.03 after posting three, top 10 finishes this season, with sophomore Ricky Stout averaging just over 75 per round (75.13) and junior transfer Dustin Furnari at 75.50 with one runner-up finish ? to teammate, Andres Cuenca ? at the WCU Intercollegiate back in November.
The Catamounts are one of six teams in the region to have played the course at Council Fire in the season-opening Scenic City Invitational back in mid-September, 2007. Western finished 15th at the event, but carded the 10th-best 54-hole score in school history at 879 (298-287-294).
Live scoring for the 54-hole event will be provided by GolfStat and can be accessed by visiting www.GolfStatResults.com. Complete results and recaps will be provided through www.CatamountSports.com.
2008 NCAA East Regional
Council Fire Golf Club ? Chattanooga, Tenn.
May 15-17
1. Georgia
2. Charlotte
3. South Carolina
4. Duke
5. Chattanooga
6. Auburn
7. East Tennessee State
8. Michigan State
9. Ole Miss
10. UAB
11. Virginia Tech
12. North Carolina State
13. Mississippi State
14. Georgia State
15. North Florida
16. UC-Irvine
17. Augusta State
18. SMU
19. Middle Tennessee
20. Coastal Carolina
21. Memphis
22. Virginia
23. Western Carolina
24. Colorado State
25. New Mexico State
26. Western Illinois
27. Jackson State
Individuals: Keegan Bradley (St. John’s); Jose Toledo (New Orleans); Johnny Caldwell (South Alabama); Michael McGrady (Troy); Jon Curran (Vanderbilt); Grant Leaver (Austin Peay)
UNCG’s Nathan Stamey set for action at the NCAA West Regional on Thursday
BREMERTON, Wash. ? UNC Greensboro senior Nathan Stamey finished his final preparation Wednesday, the eve of the NCAA Men’s Golf Championsip’s West Regional.
Stamey, a native of Canton, NC, is one of 18 individual selections to the tournament. He was among six individuals assigned to the West Reginal at Gold Mountain GC in Bremerton, WA. After making the more than 2,000-mile cross country trek, Stamey played an afternoon practice round on Wednesday.
It is the first time that a Spartan has earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament in the Division I era. The last UNCG men’s golfer to earn a spot in the tournament came 21 years ago when Todd Jackson earned a place in the Division III Tournament as an individual. Only one Spartan has ever won a national title ? Ryan Fox in 1981.
Stamey finished second at the Southern Conference Championship last month, one of six Top 10 finishes he had on the season. Stamey had nine Top 20 finishes in 12 events on his way to a team-best 73.00 scoring average. In
44 career events, Stamey has recorded 22 Top 20 finishes.
Stamey has seen Gold Mountain GC before. He played in the 2006 United States Amateur Public Links Championship at that same course. Stamey willl tee it up at 1:32 pm local time on Thursday for the opening round.
A total of 30 teams and six individuals not on a qualifying team will advance to the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship, May 28-31 at Purdue in West Lafayette, IN.
AGATE
Tee times for Thursday’s action (teams play in the order of No. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1). All times are Pacific Time.
Time 1st Tee
7:00 a.m. Oregon, Cal, St. Mary's
7:47 a.m. Oklahoma, Kansas State, San Diego
11:30 a.m. USC, UCLA, Florida St.
12:17 p.m. North Carolina, Texas Tech, Central Florida
1:05 p.m. LSU, Oregon St. Pepperdine
Time 10th Tee
7:00 a.m. Kentucky, Wisconsin, Washington
7:47 a.m. Denver, Navy, Columbia
11:48 a.m. Stanford, Clemson, UNLV
12:35 p.m. ASU, San Diego St., Texas
1:23 p.m. Troy Merritt, Boise State; Brian Locke, Loyola
Marymount; Tarquin Macmanus, Arizona
1:32 p.m. Jason D’Amore, Loyola Marymount; Nathan Stamey,
UNC Greensboro; Jimmy Lytle, Elon
Elon’s Lytle to Play in NCAA West Regional
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. ? Elon University senior Jimmy Lytle’s name was announced when the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Committee selected the teams and individuals Monday evening to participate in the 2008 NCAA West Regional May 15-17 at the Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Washington.
Lytle will become the first Phoenix golfer to ever compete in an NCAA Division I regional since Elon has officially participated at the Division I level the past nine seasons. The three-time All-Southern Conference star and five other individuals join 27 teams at the regional event hosted by University of Washington.
The three 54-hole regional competitions ? including the East Regional hosted by The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the Central Regional hosted by The Ohio State University ? will be conducted to determine the participants who will advance to the NCAA Championship.
The 2008 NCAA Championship will be hosted by Purdue University May 28-31 on the Kampen Course at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in West Lafayette, Indiana. The top 10 teams and the top two individuals at each regional competition will move on to the championship round.
For the 2007-08 season, Lytle tallied 2,311 strokes over 32 rounds for a sizzling 72.22 scoring average ? the third-best average in the Southern Conference this year. Last month, he finished in a tie for fourth place at the Southern Conference Championship. This spring, he was named the SoCon Golfer of the Week twice and the SoCon Athlete of the Month once.
Lytle played in all 12 of Elon’s events this season, amassing 10 top-25 finishes ? including eight in the top-10 ? while scoring 15 rounds of par or better and eight rounds in the 60s. Along the way, he earned medalist honors at Francis Marion University’s tournament and runner-up accolades at tournaments hosted by Old Dominion University, Campbell University and University of South Carolina Aiken.