Georgia Jumps Out to an Early Lead at NCAA East Regional
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.---Georgia showed why it was named the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA Men’s Golf tournament shooting a blistering 265 (-19) in the first round of the East Regional played at Council Fire Golf Club. The Bulldogs overcame tough weather conditions to take an eight-shot lead over Augusta State at 273 (-11).
After a quiet morning weather-wise, the rains came in the afternoon, but it did not slow down UGA. Hudson Swafford shot a six-under par 65 to tie for the first round lead with ASU’s Henrik Norlander. Russell Henley and Adam Mitchell each shot 66 (-5) for Georgia, while Brian Harman added a 68 (-3).
Augusta State shot the round of the morning with an 11-under par 273 to take the early lead before Georgia’s charge. SMU is in third at eight-under par 276.
The host Chattanooga is tied for 11th at two-under par 282 with Colorado State. The Mocs were led by juniors Ben Rickett (-2) and Jonathan Hodge (-1). Fredrik Qvicker shot an even-par 71.
Round two of three tees off tomorrow morning. The top 10 teams and two individuals not on advancing team gain entry to the NCAA Championships hosted by Purdue May 28-31.
Western Carolina Men’s Golf Tied for 14th, Matt Cook Tied for 7th after First Round at NCAA East Regional
Catamounts tee off just before 1:00 pm on Friday afternoon
Chattanooga, Tenn. ? Western Carolina posted a one-over, 285, as a team on Thursday afternoon to stand amidst a three-way tie for 14th at the NCAA East Regional hosted by Southern Conference member, Chattanooga, at the par 71, 6,961-yard Council Fire Golf Club in Chattanooga, Tenn. Senior Matt Cook, making his third appearance in a regional event, stands tied for seventh with a four-under, 67.
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.
Top national seed, Georgia, leads the 27-team field with an opening round, 19-under 265 after the opening round. Augusta State stands second, eight strokes in arrears at 273 followed by SMU (276) with Middle Tennessee and Mississippi State standing tied for fourth with opening round six-under, 278,
Conference-foe, Chattanooga, is three strokes ahead of Western in a two-way tie for 11th with a two-under, 282.
Cook’s 67 on Thursday tied his lowest round of the season and is his lowest score in three trips to an NCAA regional. Over his last three rounds ? including the final two at the Southern Conference Championship and round one of the NCAA ? the Murphy, N.C., native is shooting 67.7 with two rounds of 67 and one 69.
Freshman Caleb Marsh posted an even-par, 71, to stand tied for 46th, with sophomore Ricky Stout posting a one-over, 72, in a tie for 60th. Rounding out WCU’s scores were junior Dustin Furnari (t-107th, 75) and junior Andres Cuenca (t-125th, 76).
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.
UNCG’s Nathan Stamey 49th after opening round at NCAA West Regional
BREMERTON, WA ? UNC Greensboro senior Nathan Stamey recovered from a slow start to card an opening round 75 at the NCAA West Regional on Thursday, played at the 7,111-yard Gold Mountain GC.
Stamey, playing in the last group to tee off, started out on the back 9. He bogeyed Nos. 12 and 13 to fall to two-over. After consective pars on Nos. 14 and 15, Stamey had back-to-back bogeyes on Nos. 16 and 17. However, he birdied No. 18 to show signs of a rally and finish the back side in 39.
Stamey began the front with bogey, birdie, bogey, but then settled in. He parred five of his final six holes, and added a birdie on the par-4 seventh for good measure, to finish the front side even-up. He sits in a tie for 49th place in the field of 141 players.
Oregon’s Joey Benedetti has the lead after 18 holes, carding an opening round 69. Pepperdine’s Eric Shiver is one shot back in second, before a six-way tie for third two shots behind Benedetti.
Oregon holds the team lead with a score of 289, two shots better than Southern California, UCLA and Washington.
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.
A total of 30 teams ? 10 from each regional ? 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.
Stamey’s group will get underway on Friday at 8:53 am PT.
Lytle Opens Strong at NCAA West Regional
BREMERTON, Wash. ? Elon University senior Jimmy Lytle fired a two-over-par 74 in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Division I West Regional Men’s Golf Championship Thursday at the Gold Mountain Golf Club, claiming a share of 31st place in the 141-player field.
The first Phoenix golfer to compete in an NCAA regional since Elon officially joined the Division I level nine years ago, Lytle is one of six individuals to join the 27 teams participating at the regional event hosted by University of Washington. Lytle is scheduled to tee off at 11:53 a.m. EST Friday in the second round of the three-round tournament.
University of Oregon’s Joey Benedetti carded a three-under-par 69 to take the individual lead after the first day of the three-day event. Pepperdine University’s Eric Shriver shot a two-under-par 70 to pull into second place on Gold Mountain’s 7,111-yard Olympic Course.
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 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, Ind. The top 10 teams and the top two individuals at each regional site will move on to championship play.
Prior to regional action, Lytle fashioned a sizzling 72.22 scoring average for 32 rounds ? the third-best average in the Southern Conference this season. Last month, the three-time All-SoCon player finished in a tie for fourth place at the SoCon Championship. This spring, he was named the SoCon Golfer of the Week twice and the SoCon Athlete of the Month once.